Several Calgary Flames who requested trades have suddenly changed their mind

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Cooper Godin
May 5, 2023 (3:23 PM)

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On Monday, the Calgary Flames made the decision to move on from head coach Darryl Sutter, just over two years after he was brought back. The firing came exactly two weeks after general manager Brad Trevling and the Flames parted ways.

The Flames will have a busy summer ahead of them by looking for a new bench boss, general manager, while also dealing with what to do with the roster ahead of the 2023-24 season.

But some good news has come out for interim GM Don Maloney as according to Frank Seravalli, several players on the Flames roster have rescinded their trade requests now that Darryl Sutter has been fired.

"In talking to various people around the league that have connections to Calgary, the sentiment was any trade requests that were out there, or demands so to speak, have been rescinded now that there's been a coaching change," Seravalli said. "That, I think, opens the door for some players that might have been hesitating to eventually re-sign. That'll of course be the call of whoever's the next general manager."

He went on to add, "I believe there was at least a handful of players who had spoken honestly and frankly to (former general manger) Brad Treliving and (president of hockey operations) Don Maloney, who were in the room for the exit interviews, to say exactly that. Essentially, it's as simple as, 'If this guy's back, I don't wanna play here.'"

This news is big for Maloney as some players in their exit interviews last month seemed noncommittal about returning next season, including Backlund and Lindholm. Jonathan Huberdeau, who was a big addition last season, even admitted earlier this week that he didn't see eye-to-eye with Sutter and says that a new coach is going to help his game.

Some priorities for either Maloney or the team's new general manager, when appointed, will be to deal with their pending unrestricted free agents, including Milan Lucic, Troy Stetcher and Michael Stone. The Flames also have several key players that will be eligible to sign extensions on July 1st. Those that are eligible are Mikael Backlund, Tyler Toffoli, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanafin, among others.

But before the opening of free agency on July 1st, the Flames will have their focus on the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, where they have a 98.9% chance of selecting 16th overall.

Source: theScore