Huge Update on Jacob Markstrom Trade Talks Out of Calgary

It's been a whirlwind season for Calgary Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom and the next week is going to be even crazier. After waiving his no-movement clause to join the New Jersey Devils, trade talks broke off between the two teams.

Now it sounds like this are very much back on.

This comes only one day after the Flames were admitting they were comfortable keeping Markstrom long term. The Swedish netminder has two seasons left on his contract at $6 million AAV and he's enjoying an above-average season, helping the Flames stay within the playoff picture in the Western Conference.

TSN's Pierre LeBrun has provided the very latest on the goalie's trade talks, including how the Devils are back in the mix:

As noted in here, my understanding is the Devils have informed the Flames they would be willing now to take on Markstrom without salary retention. Whether or not that moves the needle, we shall see … https://t.co/q4POUeqo9S
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 1, 2024

The Devils are very much in the mix in the East, only five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the divisional standings and only six points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning. New Jersey also has three games in hand on the Lightning.

Craig Conroy not having to retain any salary moving forward is key here. He's not willing to do so and with the Devils being open financially, it should help complete the deal. The Flames have AHL superstar Dustin Wolf who they want to give a longer leash to in the NHL and Daniel Vladar is more than capable of winning games down the stretch. This deal could allow for the Flames to re-tool on the fly and move their financial resources around to help find some more production up front and on defense.

The Flames are now expecting to move Markstrom and also Noah Hanifin, who is an unrestricted free agent at season's end and who has informed the team he prefers to sign long term elsewhere. As for Markstrom, he's not happy with how things have been handled by Conroy and company:

Everyone in here I really respect everything that’s been going on, and not going on, and how everyone in this room has handled everything. I think it’s been really good. And then the whole situation and everything, am I happy about that? No I’m not. I think it could have been handled a lot different from up top

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