Gang, we’re entering the silly season, when big moves can happen at a moment’s notice and everyone frantically is refreshing their social media feeds to stay up to date.
Trade market quiet for the moment on Blake Coleman. Obviously that can change in a moment’s notice. But it sounds like the 10 teams on his approved trade list either don’t have enough cap room to engage fully or some of the teams are working on other targets for now.
Coleman, 34, Show more
Per LeBrun:
Trade market quiet for the moment on Blake Coleman. Obviously that can change in a moment’s notice. But it sounds like the 10 teams on his approved trade list either don’t have enough cap room to engage fully or some of the teams are working on other targets for now. Coleman, 34, has one year left on his deal at $4.9 million.
That said, Coleman is entering the final year of his contract, which carries (a) a pretty palatable $4.9 million cap hit and (b) a 10-team trade approval list. A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Coleman is a savvy veteran who is the type of player a championship contender would love to add.
But even with the salary cap going up to $104 million this season, contenders will likely be spending close to the cap, and it might be tough for one of them to add Coleman at full freight. The Flames have their three salary retention slots used up currently, but two slots open up on July 1; Rasmus Andersson and Jacob Markstrom’s contracts, and their salary retention, expire at that point. And with a pretty lean free agent market this summer, it feels likely that a team that misses out on their primary free agent target could circle back to Calgary to chat about Coleman’s services.
The Flames value Coleman very highly, both in terms of being a big part of their hockey club and a big potential trade chip. They’re likely looking to get a pretty strong return for his services in the trade market and, given the teams on Coleman’s trade list are probably Cup contenders, it’ll be interesting to see what shape any deal potentially takes.
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