The Calgary Flames are in the midst of a disappointing season, sitting in fifth place in the Pacific Division with a record barely over .500. One player who is expected to be moved at the trade deadline is defenceman Noah Hanifin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. According to insider Elliotte Friedman, Hanifin's top choice is the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Via Sportsnet:
“When it comes to Noah Hanifin, he's focusing on places and they're focusing on places where he wants to sign an extension. The belief is Tampa Bay is his No. 1 choice,” Friedman said.
“I think if this was so easy to do, it would be done already. Everybody continues to work at it. We'll see how this goes over the next week … But if they can't make it work with the Lightning, we'll see how that develops and how Calgary and Hanifin proceed.”
The Flames aren't totally out of the postseason picture quite yet but when it comes to Hanifin, they'd obviously like to get a nice return for him if he doesn't ink an extension. Calgary already shipped off Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm, and Nikita Zadorov in recent weeks.
Noah Hanifin is a solid player who has 11 goals and 23 assists in 59 contests this season. The Lightning are allowing 3.39 goals per game, which ranks 25th in the league. They could definitely use another quality blue liner as the playoffs approach. The NHL Trade Deadline is next Friday. We'll see if Hanifin ends up with the Bolts, goes elsewhere, or stays put.
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