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The Calgary Flames have plenty of quality defenders within the organization.
Be it in a trade to plug holes on the roster, or address not having a single draft pick in the top three rounds, it seems likely the Flames will dip into that well this off-season.
Knowing that,
Larry Brooks of the New York Post speculated the Flames and New York Rangers could become dance partners in the coming months.
Calgary appears to have a surplus of right defensemen and could use help in the middle. Dougie Hamilton is the big name who might be obtainable, but I wonder if the Rangers might not target 20-year-old Adam Fox, who will be a junior at Harvard, in talks with the Flames.
I don't know that the Flames need help down the middle. Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund and Mark Jankowski, who potted 17 goals in his rookie campaign, is a 1-2-3 they're probably comfortable with. There are far more glaring needs (like a scoring winger) on the roster.
By now you all probably know where I stand on the Dougie Hamilton rumors.
I think trading him would be ludicrous so I'm not going to spend much time on that part of the excerpt.
If the two link up, I think a draft pick-for-prospect trade is the more likely scenario. As it stands, the Rangers own three 1st rounders (9th, 26th, and one in the 28-31 range), a pair of 2nd rounders and a pair of 3rd rounders.
Suffice to say, they most certainly have the capital to pull off a trade for someone like Fox if the Flames are a) worried he may not sign when the time comes and/or; b) adamant about recouping some picks.
Fox is a very promising prospect – he tallied 68 points in 64 games with Harvard over the last two years – so the Flames have to be careful in any potential trade.
Let's say they could acquire New York's latest 1st for Fox (maybe it takes a little more, I don't know – just roll with it). The Flames better be confident someone they really like could be available.
Fox is producing much more than you'd expect from someone taken in his draft slot (66th overall) and he's a couple years into his development. If you're not getting legitimately good assets/draft picks, dealing him is counterproductive.
I'm really interested to see how Brad Treliving handles this situation in the coming months. We know he'll probably use organizational depth on defense in order to fill other needs. To what extent is really up in the air.
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