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On Friday night the Calgary Flames' search for a No. 1 goaltender finally reached its end.

Flames GM Brad Treliving pulled the trigger on a trade that sent the 35th overall pick, and a conditional 3rd in 2018 if Elliott re-signs, to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Brian Elliott.

I have some thoughts:

1) Given the asking prices for Ben Bishop, Marc-Andre Fleury and some of the other notables on the market I think the Flames were smart to settle on Elliott, if you will.

It would have taken a lot to get Bishop out of Tampa Bay and even more to get him extended. There were reports he wanted a seven-year deal worth $7 million per season. Giving a seven-year deal to a goaltender is almost always a bad idea. Giving a seven-year deal to a guy who will be 31 a month into the first season of his new contract is a worse idea.

Meanwhile the Penguins reportedly asked for the 6th overall pick in exchange for Fleury. I don't know about you guys but I wouldn't part with an elite prospect in order to bring in a high-priced goaltender who has a history of concussion issues and is in his 30s.

2) Elliott doesn't have the perceived value of an elite goaltender but by all accounts he has been just that in recent years.

Over the last three seasons Elliott has posted a .931 save percentage at 5 v 5. That is good for 6th in the league in that span and ranks him ahead of Bishop, Fleury, Semyon Varlamov, Frederik Andersen and every other goaltender the Flames were linked to.

The asking price for Elliott on the trade market was the cheapest of the bunch, too. The Flames did extremely well landing Elliott for as little as they did.

3) A very underrated aspect of the trade: Elliott will only make $2.5 million next season. The Flames' cap situation will be very sticky once the likes of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Joe Colborne re-sign so having an above average No. 1 making as much as a good backup makes life a lot easier on the Flames.

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