Tuesday night’s matchup between the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators might not jump off the schedule, but for NHL front offices around the league, it’s quietly becoming one of the most interesting subplots of the season. With both teams buried near the bottom of the standings - Calgary holding a .407 points percentage, Nashville just behind at .400 - the game on the ice is only part of the story. Off the ice, the real action might be just beginning.
Let’s call it what it is: a basement battle with big trade implications.
When teams like these find themselves stuck in the standings come December, the question isn’t just whether they can claw back into contention - it’s whether they should even try. And right now, both the Flames and Predators are looking more like sellers-in-waiting than clubs gearing up for a playoff push.
The rumor mill is already spinning at full tilt. Calgary has several players drawing interest around the league, including defenseman Rasmus Andersson and forwards Blake Coleman and Nazem Kadri. Nashville, meanwhile, has its own set of intriguing names: Jonathan Marchessault, Ryan O’Reilly, and Steven Stamkos - all veterans who could slot into a contender’s top six or bolster a power play.
This is where the chess match begins. For general managers across the league, these rosters are starting to look like a holiday shopping list. And the pressure is on - not just to make the right moves, but to make them at the right time.
That’s part of what made Don Maloney’s recent comments in Calgary so buzzworthy. Flames fans - the ever-passionate C of Red - are watching closely, worried that other teams in similar positions, like the Predators, Blues, or even the message-sending Canucks, might be quicker to act and snag the best return packages. In a seller’s market, timing is everything.
Flames GM Craig Conroy, who recently signed an extension, didn’t exactly quiet the speculation. When asked about the team’s direction, he didn’t sugarcoat it: “If we were where Colorado is (in first place), we’d be looking at maybe different things. But where we are, we have to put everything on the table.”
That’s a pretty clear signal. Calgary’s front office isn’t clinging to false hope - they’re evaluating everything. And if the losses keep piling up, there’s no reason to think they’ll hesitate to start dealing.
Conroy has already shown he’s willing to move early if the deal is right. Back in January 2024, during the Flames’ bye week, he swung a major trade that sent Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks for a five-piece return. That deal brought in two of Calgary’s top current prospects - Hunter Brzustewicz and Matvei Gridin - and it happened more than a month before the trade deadline.
The logic was simple: Conroy had set a price, the Canucks met it, and there was no reason to wait. Vancouver, sitting atop the Western Conference at the time, wanted to strike before the rest of the league got moving. They paid a premium to beat the market.
That kind of forward-thinking could come into play again - and not just for Calgary. Nashville’s front office, led by Barry Trotz, might be weighing similar decisions. With veteran assets that could bring real value to playoff hopefuls, the Predators are in a position to shape the trade landscape just as much as the Flames.
The bottom line? Tuesday’s game might not carry playoff implications, but it could be a preview of what’s to come - not on the scoreboard, but on the phones of GMs across the league.
The Flames and Predators are both sitting in the seller’s seat. Now it’s just a matter of who makes the first move - and who gets the best return.