Rumor: Calgary wants to trade either Brodie or Hamonic

The Calgary Flames will soon need to address contracts with Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and David Rittich. In order to avoid cap tightness, they will need to move out some salary. TSN's Bob McKenzie recently spoke about Calgary's options on his "Bobcast" Podcast and said Calgary will look at moving out either T.J. Brodie or Travis Hamonic as well as Michael Frolik in order to free up cap for Tkachuk.

“I’ve been hearing a lot that Calgary is very intent on moving a defenseman, either Travis Hamonic or TJ Brodie. Brodie and Hamonic are two names we’re hearing a lot of because the Flames have good young defensemen they feel can take over for one of those guys. And also like when I mentioned the Michael Frolik potential trade, they are trying to free up dollars to be able to sign restricted free agent Matthew Tkachuk.”

The Flames have an abundance in young defenceman that can play, they would like to free up space in their top 4 for Rasmus Andersson, Jusso Valimaki or Oliver Kylington. Brodie carries a cap hit of 4.65 million per season and Hamonic sits at $3.85 million. Calgary needs that extra cap space to be able to pay Tkachuk and Rittich their worth and still remain cap friendly. With teams like Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia and Detroit all shopping for a top 4 defenceman, Calgary should be able to make a move with Brodie or Hamonic. 

Ideally the Flames would like to move Brodie over Hamonic as Brodie's play has drastically declined over the last few years and he carries the higher cap hit. Hamonic had a bit of a rough start in his first season in Calgary but rebounded nicely in 2018/19 with the Flames. With the 2019 NHL Draft coming up very soon and with the Flames history at the draft, don't be surprised to see GM, Brad Treliving make a move with Brodie, Hamonic or even Frolik at the draft.