Most of the trade rumors centered around the Washington Capitals this season have been about players possibly departing the team. Friday’s episode of The Jeff Marek Show featured some talk of the team doing the exact opposite.
The Calgary Flames have initiated a sell-off of a few of their key roster pieces as the franchise looks to enter a rebuild. They started by dealing center Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks in late January and continued this week by sending defenseman Chris Tanev to the Dallas Stars.
Left-handed blueliner Noah Hanifin is perhaps Calgary’s biggest available prize left up for grabs. And, according to hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, the Capitals have concrete interest in the 27-year-old.
“I think Washington sees the bigger picture,” Friedman said. “Where are they really? I think they recognize that they’ve gotta make some changes. I think they’re like a lot of teams in the NHL, they don’t want to do a teardown. They want to see if they can kind of rebuild it on the fly. I think they’re looking at some things out there. I think they’ve kind of kicked tires on Hanifin a little bit.”
Any trade for Hanifin from a Capitals perspective would likely also feature a baked-in contract extension as Hanifin is an unrestricted free agent this summer. The price to acquire him as just a rental would be far too high for a team like the Capitals to consider given their current position in the standings. His current contract also holds an eight-team, no-trade list.
Hanifin is without a doubt in the prime of his career and would be a surefire top-pairing defender for the Capitals for the length of any contract he signs. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Boston native is skating on average 23:44 of ice time per game for the Flames this year and plays on both the power play and penalty kill.
Hanifin has scored a career-high 11 goals this season and has 34 total points through 59 games. The Flames offered him an eight-year extension in the fall and he has made it clear he will not be signing it. The Athletic’s Sean Gentille reports that Hanifin would like to spend the next stage of his career in the United States.
The current price to acquire Hanifin’s services is thought to be quite high. Sportsnet’s Eric Francis said last week that Hanifin is “sure to net the Flames at least a first-round pick, top prospect and roster player.” That price could increase even further if Calgary allows the other team in the equation the ability to negotiate an extension with Hanifin.
The Capitals added to the left side of their defense last trade deadline when they acquired Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs. They did so by using draft assets they gained by dealing Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins, something they could attempt again this year with names like Nic Dowd, Anthony Mantha, Max Pacioretty, etc.
Hanifin would immediately shoot to the top of the Capitals’ depth chart on the left side and form a nice future core with Sandin and Martin Fehervary on that side. Current left-sided, third-pairing defender Joel Edmundson could be dealt in the coming week or let walk in unrestricted free agency this summer.
