3 Players Worth Pursuing at the Trade Deadline

We are more than halfway through the 2023-24 season, and there are still plenty of questions left to be answered. For Calgary Flames fans, the team is seemingly at a crossroads whether to embrace a retool and begin selling off assets. As the team alternates wins and losses, unrestricted free agent (UFA) defencemen Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev are currently dominating headlines in anticipation of being traded. General manager (GM) Craig Conroy already traded fellow UFAs Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, and Elias Lindholm. The team does not have to fully rebuild as it still has veteran pieces locked in for the long haul that should keep them relatively competitive: Blake Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Rasmus Andersson, and MacKenzie Weegar, among others.

Related: Flames’ Weegar On His Way To Historic 2023-24 Season

While the focus may be on selling and recouping draft picks and other assets, who says the Flames can’t add players before the March 8 2024 Trade Deadline? Prospects and picks will likely come back in any Hanifin or Tanev deal, and maybe the organization can flip some for a roster jolt. In the Lindholm trade with the Vancouver Canucks, Russian forward Andrei Kuzmenko came in return and has fit in relatively well with four points in eight games. The team has problems everywhere, but for the most part, they will need to replace some of the defence lost if Tanev and Hanifin get moved, as well as someone to spur the team’s dreadful power play. Let’s have a look at three players the Flames should take a swing at before this year’s trade deadline.

Anthony Duclair, San Jose Sharks

We’re going to proverbially beat a dead horse for a second here. Twenty-year-old San Jose Sharks forward Anthony Duclair has been suggested as a trade target by THW for the Flames since 2022. He will be a bigger trade chip at the deadline this season, and many playoff contenders will likely be in the hunt to acquire his services. When he was traded to the Sharks, it was for prospect Steven Lorentz and a fifth-round draft pick. His trade value should be slightly higher than this, but not many teams will be willing to give up a first or second rounder for him. He is having an okay season on a terrible Sharks team, with 11 goals and 19 points through 50 games. A three-time 20-goal scorer, he is known for his offensive pedigree but is having one of the better defensive seasons of his almost 10-year career. He is on pace for career-highs in blocks and hits and…