Although Twitter feeds were flooded with reports of the Calgary Flames fishing for top-six forwards for weeks, they landed zilch by the time the trade deadline passed. Aside from shuffling the defense corps, the Flames made no splashes where everybody thought they might. Rumours and suggestions swirled about seeking Ilya Kovalchuk, Kyle Palmieri, Kasperi Kapanen, Chris Kreider, Wayne Simmonds, Vincent Trochek and so on, but nothing materialized.
In Calgary, responses to general manager Brad Treliving’s inertia up front were decidedly mixed; some were appalled, some were relieved, some were surprised, some were unfazed. Now, the Flames definitely pursued some of these assets, maybe missing some by mere hairs, but Treliving made it glassy clear that he would not stoop to the wrong price for any of them.