3 players the Calgary Flames need to trade after embarrassing postseason exit

After yet another early exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it’s clear the Calgary Flames need changes. Those changes will have to happen via trades.

The Calgary Flames won the Pacific Division last season, but got upset by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Aside from signing Cam Talbot and trading James Neal for Milan Lucic, general manager Brad Treliving showed faith in his roster by not making any major changes.

After an embarrassing loss to the Dallas Stars, he’s not going to do that again. Whether it’s Treliving or someone else, the Flames general manager is going to have to examine the roster from top to bottom and make some big changes. This team has been given multiple chances to prove themselves, yet have virtually nothing to show for it.

The Calgary Flames core has recently seen the additions of Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm, but their core of Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, Mikael Backlund, Johnny Gaudreau, and T.J. Brodie has had plenty of chances to do something in the postseason. Yet all they have to show for it is a single postseason series win back in 2014-15.

In six seasons, the Flames core has won a whopping total of eight playoff games. That’s not going to cut it. The Flames have tried surrounding their core with complementary players with minimal results to show for it.

Whether it’s fair or not, the core deserves blame for not taking their team to the next level. Treliving won’t be allowed to stand pat again. He’s going to have to make some serious moves. Either he’ll do it or his replacement will.

No matter who makes those changes, one has to imagine the Flames are going to make some big changes. The stagnant salary cap all but ensures that. But what kind of changes could the Flames see? Here are three players who they should trade.