The Big Monday Thing - Your Source For Trade Deadline News
The Flames have acquired Tyler Toffoli from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Tyler Pitlick, prospect Emil Heineman, and a first round pick in 2022
I usually pump out the Big Monday Thing sometime on Sunday - usually around 11:50 p.m. - because I’m a dedicated scribe and a hard worker. Today I’ve started fresh on Monday morning, in the midst of all the hoopla surrounding the 1 p.m. MT NHL trade deadline. This will be out well before that deadline, and I’m not discussing too much in the way of trades. So why is this the plan for today?
Dunno.
The Week of: March 14th-20th
Results From Past Week: In a week where your Calgary Flames got shutout by the Buffalo Sabres(???), it was still not a terrible stretch for the team overall. Coming off a grueling five games in seven days, Darryl Sutter’s children finally managed to find a couple of days of rest, and followed that up against New Jersey by doing the thing they love to do most: scoring six goals in a game.
A truly unfortunate M̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶S̶m̶i̶t̶h̶ Jacob Markström puckhandling error likely prevented the Flames from earning two points against Buffalo, but they didn’t, got real mad about it, and made the Vancouver Canucks pay for it. Delicious.
Oh, and they bought something called a Calle Järnkrok. I don’t know what that is, but it’s apparently from Sweden. Hope it came with an Allen key! Please be nice to me.
Flames Overall Record: 38-16-8, 84 pts
Standings: 1st place in the Pacific Division, 2nd in the Western Conference. I love the consistency. I haven’t had to edit that sentence in weeks.
Soundtrack: Mama Mia! - ABBA
This is a tribute to both the Italian Line (Andrew Mangiapane - Adam Ružička - Tyler Toffoli) and the entire Swedish House Mafia that is the Calgary Flames.
What We Liked:
Well, in the spirit of the trade deadline, you have to like the Calle Järnkrok deal. This is it. This is the Flames window, and credit to Brad Treliving for trying to keep it wide open. The Flames have to re-sign Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Andrew Mangiapane, and you can go ahead and throw Oliver Kylington into that list. That’s four guys who are going to command some hefty raises, and while I do think there’s a possibility to bring all of them back, it’s not a stretch to say one of them will be wearing a different jersey next season.
So if you have a chance to win it all - and the Flames absolutely do - you owe it to everyone involved to get it. Treliving knows this, and Calle Järnkrok (a player the Scorchstack called coming to Calgary before anyone else) is such an absurdly good fit into the lineup in service of that goal. Järnkrok is a smart player on any of the 200 feet of an NHL rink, can play at center or wing, and in all situations. The Top 9 of this team is so dynamic now and can keep getting even crazier with one weird trick. (recalling Matthew Phillips)
What We Would Prefer Not To See:
The idea of Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie pairing up again in Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys makes me fucking sick. There should be rules against this kind of thing.
I know they are nearly impossible shoes to fill, but why can’t people be more like Miikka Kiprusoff?
Enemy of the Week:
The Edmonton Oilers crawl out of the sewers and slither into the Saddledome this weekend, which of course includes sentient ham casserole Connor McDavid. Yeah, this guy might be one of the 20 best players in the NHL - top 50 for sure - but he’s got the personality of a Silly Putty tube that no longer has Silly Putty in it, and you can just feel yourself being drained of your own brainpower when watching him speak.
As I’m writing this, I’m remembering that Evander Kane is on the Oilers, so I’m pivoting. This is easy. Fuck that guy.
What Comes Next:
Lots more home cooking coming up this week (good thing they’re the Flames! Please be nice to me). The San Jose Sharks and Arizona Coyotes are both extremely grim and also likely to beat the Flames because life is unfair, but Calgary has a chance to really do some damage to Edmonton’s push for a playoff spot on Hockey Night in Canada, and what’s better than that?
Theo Fleury Philosophical 180 Of The Week:
After appearing on Fox News to talk up the so-called Freedom Convoy, and that time he said he was on the phone with Vladimir Putin, Theo Fleury seems to have done some introspection and become a Marxist.
The Calle Järnkrok deal was big, but this is the biggest trade of the week.
Unrelated Fact:
Left this one here last week, but it’s still relevant at this time:
Mariners baseball.
See You Next Week:
Follow @TheScorchStack for all your trade deadline needs! We are live on the scene at the Saddledome for The Scorchstack Network (or TSN), and are probably coming live from everywhere else, because we are a global news organization.