- Flames land defenseman Jacob Middleton and three draft picks from Minnesota
- Wild get Blake Coleman and Olli Maatta, with Calgary retaining half of Coleman’s cap hit
- Read below for the full breakdown of the trade and who filled which hole
The Calgary Flames keep tearing down and rebuilding their blue line.
Calgary acquired defenseman Jacob Middleton from the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and sent forward Blake Coleman and defenseman Olli Maatta the other way, with three draft picks headed back to the Flames. TSN’s Darren Dreger broke the news, and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Michael Russo of The Athletic filled in the details.
Dreger had it first:
Russo laid out the full return heading to Minnesota:
Middleton is the piece Calgary wanted. The 30-year-old checks in at 6-foot-3, 219 pounds, blocks a pile of shots, and steps into top-four minutes. He has three years left at a $4.35 million cap hit. He also grew up in Wainwright, Alberta, roughly a four-hour drive from the Saddledome, so this is close to a homecoming.
Coleman goes to Minnesota with one year left on his deal, and Calgary is retaining 50 percent of his $4.9 million cap hit. The 34-year-old winger put up 20 goals and 15 assists in 69 games last season. He won a pair of Stanley Cups in Tampa Bay, throws his body around (152 hits a year ago), and picked up a few down-ballot Selke votes.
Minnesota needed bodies up front. Mats Zuccarello signed with the Kings, Marcus Johansson left for Europe, and Vladimir Tarasenko is still unsigned. Coleman slots in as a middle-six forward there.
Maatta gives the Wild a steady third-pairing veteran. The 31-year-old owns two Cups from his Pittsburgh days and has two years left at $3.5 million.
Those picks are a nice bonus for the Flames. Calgary grabs a 2029 second-rounder, a 2027 third, and a 2028 fourth. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported the second is the best of the bunch:
The Flames keep stockpiling draft capital while getting bigger and younger on the back end. Minnesota lands a physical, Cup-tested forward for its middle six.
