The Flames are sitting on Morgan Frost for now, and two Original Six clubs are watching his price move.
The center enters Thursday's home opener against Seattle as a pending unrestricted free agent, carrying a $4.3 million cap hit and an eight-team no-trade list.
Teams called over the summer. Craig Conroy wants to wait and see how much higher the 27-year-old's value can climb first.
Last season gave him a case. Frost scored 22 goals and 43 points in all 82 games, second on the Flames in scoring.
The ugly number sits right beside it: a -16 rating. Contenders will notice both.
The Maple Leafs and Canadiens are the names to watch. Toronto visits Calgary on Oct. 26, which hands the Leafs a front-row look.
Ryan Strome and Zach Whitecloud fill out the Flames trade board
Ryan Strome might be the easier sell. The veteran center carries a $5 million cap hit, no trade protection and an expiring deal.
Injuries limited him to 19 games after arriving from Anaheim, but he produced 12 points in that stretch while averaging 15:15 of ice time.
The Oilers like him. He played 100 games in Edmonton across 2017-18 and 2018-19, so the fit wouldn't need an introduction.
At 33, he also brings 37 playoff games over his NHL career, the kind of depth résumé deadline buyers pay for.
Zach Whitecloud is the one who surprised people by staying put through the draft. The defenceman has two years left at $2.7 million.
Calgary added on the blue line and handed out a long-term extension, and the veteran has slid down the depth chart as a result.
He still offers something rare. Whitecloud has 78 career playoff games, all with Vegas, and posted 10 points in 31 games after joining the Flames.
Conroy's patience on Frost is the wrong play. A pending UFA coming off a -16 season doesn't gain much by waiting, and one cold month could erase the leverage.
Holding an expiring contract is like holding a concert ticket on show day. Worth plenty at dinner, worthless once the lights go down.
Ryan Huska's group already dropped a 4-1 decision in Edmonton on Saturday. The first week also brings a Saturday and Sunday back-to-back in Vancouver and Seattle.
The big money stays with Jonathan Huberdeau at $10,500,000 and Dustin Wolf at $7,500,000. The movable money sits with the three names above.
If Frost opens hot, Conroy looks smart. If he doesn't, the phones that rang all summer could go quiet at the worst possible moment.
Should Craig Conroy trade Morgan Frost before the season's first month ends?
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