In a perfect world, there would be no need for the Dougie Hamilton trade talk.
But the Calgary Flames were far from perfect this season, and changing the coach was just the first shoe dropping. There is going to be serious effort made to pull off a significant move in the coming weeks, and the truth is general manager Brad Treliving doesn’t have many large denomination chips to throw on the table to make that happen.
He has little in the way of marketable draft picks. The Flames’ first selection doesn’t come until the fourth round this spring, and they aren’t about to let go of next year’s first, which would leave them without a pick in the first two rounds for a second straight year.