The Calgary Flames are in a 3-way tie for 2^nd in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers with 66 points. However, Edmonton has two games in hand on both Calgary and Vegas. The Flames are 3 points back of 1^st in the Pacific Division and currently hold the 1^st wildcard spot in the Western Conference with a 30-23-6 record this season.

GM Brad Treliving appears to have interest in the majority of the available forwards and we could see the Flames pursuing Tyler Toffoli or Chis Kreider as their main deadline acquisition on February 24^th. Toffoli is still a very talented player with loads of potential. His career AB score is an impressive +2.55, despite the fact he’s coming off of his worst AB season since 2012-2013. Before this, however, Toffoli registered back to back +6 AB scores, which is tremendously high. He has already exceeded his goal total from last season, as he currently has 15, and is 3 points away from matching last season’s total as well. Toffoli is one of the Kings’ leaders in drawn penalties with 10 as opposed to the 8 he has taken. He also is tied for the team lead in takeaways with 31, with 29 giveaways as well. Toffoli has played in all but one of the Kings’ games this season and has been a rare bright spot for this team.

On the other hand, our data suggests that Chris Kreider is on the decline in terms of being a positive AB contributor, as his scores over the last three seasons were -3.92, -3.83, 0.20. In fact, his career-high AB score was 4.26 in the 2014-2015 season. He hasn’t had a season anywhere near that number since then and has only had two seasons above an AB score of +1 in the seven years of data we have for him. Kreider currently has an impressive 11:15 penalty drawn/taken ratio, but an extremely underwhelming 51:21 giveaway/takeaway ratio. Kreider has one of the higher +/- numbers on the team, with +8. Points wise, Kreider is Top 5 on the Rangers in scoring, with 40 points in 55 games. There has been more talk recently of a Chris Kreider extension with the Rangers, which is something the rest of the league should definitely keep their eyes on in the remaining weeks before the deadline. If this is the scenario, it could lead to Ryan Strome, Anthony DeAngelo, or other talented Rangers quickly becoming available to help fit the Rangers’ cap situation for next season.

We could also see the Flames making a move for defensive depth, as Captain Mark Giordano and veteran Travis Hamonic both recently went down with injuries, with no set timetable for their return. We look forward to seeing what trades the Flames have up their sleeves over the next couple of weeks, and they will surely be a team to watch for some of these bigger-name players. More to come.