Things are becoming SUPER clear in Calgary… Major Trade Update | Calgary Flames News

The solution to the backlog of NHL-caliber defensemen in the Calgary Flames system is becoming super clear. Zach Whitecloud is now the main man dominating the trade rumor mill, with his trade value still very high, dealing him seems like a no-brainer, right? We're going to get to all that more in this video, but first I want to welcome you to Flames Digest. I'm Mark Rivett. If you're new around here and you love the Flames, make sure to subscribe so you can stay up to date on all the latest news, updates, reports, and rumors revolving on your Calgary Flames we would love to welcome into the Flames Digest family. And let's talk about if Whitecloud is for sale. And look, I gotta be honest, when it comes to the media itself and kind of, I guess, online, the Whitecloud rumors are starting to pick up quite a bit, especially in the comment section of this channel. But still, when it comes to, I guess, the traditional media and stuff, it's more so guys like Zary that are dominating it. But Whitecloud is starting to make his rounds. Now, I saw this on the Hockey News, written here by Ryan Gagne. So he writes, Sportsnet asks, will the Flames trade Zach Whitecloud with a big old fat question mark at the end of that? And before we even get into it, we can sit here and debate. He brings so much value to, I guess, the organization right now. Not only does he desperately, you know, make it obvious that he wants to be here, loves the city, loves the organization, has been so important in the indigenous community so far during his tenure. Look at what he was doing at Calgary Stampede recently. And then just what he does in terms of the locker room, helping develop these younger defensemen. He has loads of value. That, in turn, means that he has trade value as well. And we have that backlog of defensemen right now. Is shipping him away kind of a solution to bring in guys like Brustevich, who currently are kind of like the odd man out, if you've been keeping up with the vids. So, Sportsnet questions Zach Whitecloud's future in Calgary. Here's why the veteran defenseman could become a valuable trade chip for the Flames. The Flames are adjusting their roster, moving out veteran players to provide spots for the youngsters, the future of the franchise. In 2026 alone, they traded Anderson and Olimata, you count him, and moved on from one of their core leaders, Blake Coleman. So clearly, you know, trades are happening. It's funny that those are the guys listed there. There's no, you know, Caudrey Weaver or anything like that. But either way, going into the 2026-27 season, the only player in the current Flames lineup with a Stanley Cup title is 29-year-old Zach Whitecloud, who won the chip with the Knights in 2023. He came to Calgary in the deal that sent Anderson to the desert, where he helped the team advance to the Stanley Cup final. Would you say Rasmus Anderson helped the team advance to the final? Him and Hannifin did so much for that team, didn't they? Now, in a recent post on Sportsnet, author Rory Balin asks whether the Flames will move Whitecloud. So, Whitecloud's experience could net the Flames a decent trade return. That's what all really boils down to for Craig Conroy and for the fans as well. So, based on his NHL stats, Whitecloud will not be the team's most offensive defenseman, with a career-high of 19 points back in 2021-22. But based on averages, his totals include 5 goals and 18 points in 31 games with Calgary last season. He had no goals and 10 assists. So, yeah, he's not an offensive defenseman. Everyone who watches him play hockey knows that, including himself. As a right-shot defenseman who averaged more than 18 minutes a night on one occasion with the Knights in seven and a half seasons, Whitecloud had a chance to play more with the Flames, averaging more than four more minutes per night at 2240. This article is written horribly, by the way. I'm so sorry. I'm trying to correct it as I go. But either way, he plays a lot of minutes. Right now, he's on Calgary's top pairing with Kevin Ball, a 26-year-old who is one of the few core skaters in the organization signed until the next decade. Moreover, Whitecloud is on the team's top penalty-killing unit, along with veterans Michael Backlin, Joel Farabee, and recently-acquired Jacob Middleton. Hilarious that we already just know who our top PK unit is without seeing them play once. But either way, what are we getting at here? It's not just those offensive stats that matter. He's a very, you know, dependable guy, both in terms of ice time and the PK. When Whitecloud steps onto the ice for the Flames' season opener, it'll be his 400th NHL—excuse me, NHL game. He's scored only 23 goals in 88 points with 188 penalty minutes. I don't know why they're just throwing in random stats everywhere in this article. It must be a filler to get to hit a certain word count, but either way. Meanwhile, he's changing his on-ice role a bit, having recently set a career high of 140 block shots last season, surpassing his previous high of 115. Also finished last year with 124 hits, the third consecutive season with at least 117 hits. There you go, if you wanted more stats. But what is this all boiling down to? It's just showing his value once again. In a limited time at the Flames, Whitecloud assumed a leadership role, arguably the most important piece of everything here. Sporting the alternate captain letter for some games, despite not being in the same class as Kael McCarr or Zach Wierenski, there's a market for Whitecloud to land with a contender who needs a top-four defenseman that can play a variety of roles and bring 78 games of Stanley Cup playoff experience. We could have skipped most of what was said in this article and just focused right there on that paragraph. With two years remaining on his current deal at a modest 2.75 mil, so affordable, someone may come knocking on Conroy's door to check on the defender's availability before opening night, sometime in the middle of winter or in the hours leading up to the trade deadline. Whenever that call comes, it will be up to Conroy to have the answer on where Whitecloud fits into the organization's long-term plans and rebuild. And I'd say, excuse me, as of right now, it totally depends on the and I think a lot of people are a little bit upset at what the market was for Blake Coleman. They're unsure why a Connor Zeri trade hasn't happened, that kind of thing. Conroy knows what the market is for Whitecloud as well. And look, if it's not super high, I personally think there's way more value in keeping him. If there's some sort of deal you can ring out that includes Connor Zeri and Whitecloud, then I would go for it, but only for certain people. I'm absolutely not Shane Wright. I can already hear everyone talking about it. But as I said, a lot of people have been talking about, you know, I guess Whitecloud and Brewstevich and the defensive court on this channel. So one here from Lala Lafayette says they should keep Brew in the AHL until the trade deadline, then trade Whitecloud and bring Brew up on the third pair. And I've got to be honest, I could not agree more with that. I'm sure Brewstevich doesn't want to be in the A, but he understands if that's the case. And I completely agree. If he's going to be a 7th D-man, I'd rather be him be a top D-man in the A and then get another great shot once Whitecloud gets traded because surely there will be a market for him. Again, he could get traded during the season, or he could end up being traded obviously closer to the trade deadline, or it could end up not being traded at all. Some more thoughts from the channel. Paul says Whitecloud and Zeri for Teej Agimla. Now there's no shot Utah would ever say yes to that, but personally I would do that in an absolute heartbeat. You get a guy who doesn't want to be here. You got someone who's quite valuable for, you know, a former top 10 pick, Utah's first ever draft pick. Again, Utah would never do that, but I would do that in a heartbeat. Another guy, Nick here says Whitecloud is a keeper and that's a completely valued, valued, valid, gosh, I don't know why I can't talk today. Valid opinion. Um, you know, he, he does bring so much value to the franchise. Once again, that keeping him not worst case scenario, the man here says, in my opinion, the flame should try and get right. He's a right-handed center and he fits the timeline with centers being more valuable than wingers. I'd say the second trade makes more sense with Calgary being stacked with right-handed defenseman was Zane Nemitz, Whitecloud and Hunter. They can afford to give up Muse. And that was talking about certain trade proposals. It was one that had a lot of people in it and it did include Muse. So maybe going for right, not having to give up Whitecloud, you get Whitecloud and right, ship away Muse. I guess there's different possibilities here again. I don't know how down I am for that bar, but of course you guys can always let me know down in the comments. And the final kind of opinion here, it wasn't from the channel. I actually saw this on Twitter. Jamie says looking at Zach Whitecloud only as a future trade centerpiece ignores front office's current focus on getting players who want to be in Calgary and ignores the incredible job he's done of showing up in the community at a time when they've basically got a war room. So again, really showing the value off ice here. And it's true. Conroy really has tried to get players who want to play here. Whitecloud clearly wouldn't be doing all this in the community if he didn't want to be here, but he's also been vocal about it. So keeping him around really does have its pros. Trading him away of course has its pros with, you know, I guess stipulations on it, whereas keeping him doesn't have too many stipulations attached. So I don't know. Trade or keep, you can let me know down below. I'm fine either way to be quite honest, but only if it's obviously for the benefit of the team and for Whitecloud himself. I really do like the guy. Now let's get into the comment of the day to wrap up this video as we love to do here on the channel. I know we've already looked at a couple of comments, but this one comes from yesterday's video. Of course, Mythical Dust here says, what about Basha? He played center at the WHL, didn't he? Anyway, how's that guy doing? I never hear about him anymore. And it is true. Yesterday we looked at the center depth. There may have been a few that weren't spoken about just because they're I guess not as highly touted, but Basha obviously was at a certain point and certainly still can turn into an absolutely great player. Obviously he has suffered through some injuries in the most recent seasons and yeah, maybe the hype isn't as high as it was just because certain other people are starting to get or have gotten way more hype. I mean, who saw Wittenbach becoming Wittenbach, that kind of thing. So you don't hear Basha's name quite as much, but again, definitely a possibility to maybe one day be a very good NHL player for this franchise. Our fingers are crossed, of course. I believe he's a Calgary kid as well, so that would be quite cool. But if you haven't heard about him, just chalk it up to injuries and hype over other people. Thank you so much for watching this video. Please subscribe so I hear today and have a wonderful rest of your day.