The Calgary Flames have a lot of negotiations ongoing as Friday’s NHL trade deadline approaches quickly.
The ones involving Blake Coleman could end up going right down to the wire.
TSN’s Darren Dreger wrote this on X on Thursday morning about the Coleman progress:
“Tons of interest in Coleman. Offers aren’t good enough. 40-60 he’s traded at this point.”
Coleman isn’t on an expiring contract. The Flames don’t have to trade him if they don’t get an offer they want.
The same is true of Nazem Kadri, and salary cap rules won’t allow the Flames to retain salaries on both of those players in deals. Maybe that means at least one sticks around.
Coleman, though, seems like the kind of guy that would incite a bidding war that would get an offer up to the level Calgary wants.
He has Stanley Cup experience with the Tampa Bay Lightning — and the Bolts are one of the teams who has been linked to him, potentially bringing along a cool reunion.
And for what it’s worth, a 40-60 chance that Coleman is traded is still a pretty sturdy chance, just not as high as might’ve been expected earlier in the trade rumor process.
Coleman is of more use to another team at this point, even into the future, as the Flames should be doing what they can to rebuild.
Given that there are a lot of interested teams, and that the bidding is tight, it doesn’t seem like a deal that will happen quickly. Keep an eye on this one through the buzzer on Friday.
