Why the return for Noah Hanifin makes sense for the Calgary Flames

The trade deadline is just a day away, but the Calgary Flames have already taken care of most of the business that they needed to. After having to move on from so many pending unrestricted free agents, they’ve successfully managed to, capped off by the trade that sent defenseman Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

Some people have been left questioning the return for Hanifin, believing that he should have fetched a bit more for the Flames. However, the biggest question mark comes from the conditional first-round pick that the Flames will be receiving, as the 2025 pick becomes a 2026 pick if the Golden Knights decide to trade the pick before the deadline.

Frank Seravalli talked about this weird condition and why it actually makes sense for the Flames on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: From Calgary’s perspective, a lot of people have been all over that saying “why would you do that for Vegas”? I love the fact that the Flames were willing participants in this, and I’ll tell you why.

That 2025 pick, if it transfers, it’s top-10 protected. So basically what Calgary said to Vegas is “if you think you’re going to trade that 2025 pick, that’s fine, we’ll give you 48 hours to figure that out”. But in the meantime, if it does go to 2026, there are no protections on the trade.

Not saying it’s likely that Vegas isn’t going to be good in 2026, but you have to at least allow for the possibility and that was the trade-off for the Flames. We’ll give you 48 hours, you remove the conditions on the pick, and that’s why I think it was smart business by Calgary. What do they care whether it’s 2025 or 2026? They’re in a spot where they’re getting a first-round pick guaranteed, and it could be even better in 2026.

You can watch the full episode here…