NHL Mailbag: What will the Flames do at the trade deadline?

It’s a new year but we’ve already lost Mean Gene Okerlund and Bob “Marty Funkhouser” Einstein, so I’m done with it.

The NHL season churns on, though, so people are still wondering what the new year holds in store for their favorite teams, players and so on. There’s no shortage of intrigue as the deadline moves to only about seven weeks from now, and with trades already starting to shake out, things are moving in the right direction for everyone.

So let’s get right down to it:

Jeff asks: “Once Panarin and Quenneville end up in Miami, how long will it take for Kane to be traded there?”

I took this question mainly because I really like the idea of Quenneville getting that team into shape after Boughner can’t figure it out overall. But the Panarin thing is interesting and one I hadn’t really given a lot of thought to. I think most people accept as gospel that Panarin will go back to Chicago, but if they’re as bad as they seem to be, maybe he doesn’t want to spend his remaining prime years there.

Does Florida make sense? Well they have a few Russians (Dadonov, I think Kiselevich) and that does seem to be a motivating factor for other Russians signing with certain teams. And while I wouldn’t say Florida doesn’t need Panarin since everyone needs elite talent, they don’t actively Need-need him either, y’know? They have a ton of offensive skill.

Especially if Panarin costs like $9 million plus. They have a lot of guys on affordable deals, yes, but they also have to sign something like six players, minimum, for next year and even if they spend all that money on Panarin, that makes things tight. Maybe you can ship out some big deals in that theoretical Kane trade but I just don’t see where the money works for them.

But yeah, they should absolutely get Quenneville.

Kent asks: “Do you see the Flames making a move at the deadline for a playoff run and what might it be?”

I think they need to add on defense and maybe a little depth up front.

Their blue line group is good, if top-heavy, but it isn’t great. And if they want to get to a conference final they’re going to have to (probably) go through at least one of Vegas and San Jose, probably two. I don’t see where they stack up against those clubs when fully healthy and operational, and I say that as someone who’s on the Flames train this season.

I think they might have the pieces to do it, and frankly this’ll be their best shot at the Cup both in and for a while, unless Dave Rittich is a legit starter, which I’m not totally sure about.

Zachary asks via email: “Would you want Lucic on your team if he made $1 million or less?”

This is a wild question to me, but it basically boils down to, “Is Lucic slightly better than replacement-level?”

And I would say he probably is. Obviously the numbers stink and there’s no way around how bad this deal is, but he is a positive relative-corsi player and that’s not nothing. If I’m a GM and I can get him for nothing but a pro-rated $900,000 AAV contract for the rest of the year, I take a flyer on him and hope he shoots better than the 5.9 percent he’s put together over the last 121 games.

And if not, well, it’s a million dollars you can stash in the press box or minors and never think about again after the season ends.

Clarence asks: “What kind of return can the Jets expect for Trouba this summer?”

Big but not overwhelming.

It seems like a decent UFA defenseman market this summer, with Erik Karlsson, Anton Stralman, and Jake Gardiner probably all becoming available, but the price tag on those guys is going to be steep and they’re all significantly older than Trouba.

If I’m, say, Vegas, I’m more than happy to sink some futures into a guy everyone knows Winnipeg will probably have to trade if I can get this guy through his age-33 season instead of Karlsson through age-35, especially because the AAV will probably be a little more team-friendly.

This is a high-end defenseman, maybe a No. 1, and that’s the kind of thing that doesn’t become available until age 26 or 27. If you can get him at 25, that’s an advantage you gotta pay for.

Robbie asks: “What’s Blackwood’s ceiling. Is he an over-preforming back up, or is this him fulfilling his potential?”

I think we all understand he’s over-performing. Not just because he’s .963 and no one is .963, but because his career numbers aren’t great or anything.

His best junior save percentage was .921, which was third in the OHL. Pretty good but also a huge outlier, the other two seasons he went .902 and .906, albeit in the two years leading up to his drafting.

But then he gets to the AHL and, albeit as a younger player, he goes .907 in 2016-17, .882 (and spent time in the ECHL) last year, before going .911 in the A this year. This isn’t the track record of anything really resembling an elite goaltender.

That said, he’s younger than most goalies coming into the league and I think that probably has to count for something, but yeah if he ends up being a league-average backup I’m not gonna be surprised.

Ryan asks: “Kevin Hayes has been better than a point per game since November. Should the Rangers move him now or are they compromising return if they don’t wait it out closer to the deadline?”

Every indication is that they’ll wait, and why not? Hayes is really good for what he is even at the worst of times. If he cools off in generating points (probably inevitable), he’ll still be a very valuable player for a very subpar team.

I mean he’s known to be available even if he’s not actively being shopped, right? So if someone comes in and knocks Gorton’s socks off with an offer, the Rangers would make that happen.

The other team would be buying high but getting a good player. I just think the league is smart enough to wait it out.

James asks: “Tom Wilson replaces Alex Ovechkin for ASG: where would the aftermath leave Hockey Twitter?”

At the risk of outing myself as a gamer, did you ever play Fallout…?

Ryan Lambert is a Yahoo! Sports hockey columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

All stats via Corsica unless noted otherwise. Some questions in the mailbag are edited for clarity or to remove swear words, which are illegal to use.

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