March 2, 2024 | 9:05pm ET
TheFourthPeriod.com
HANIFIN PREFERS TO BE TRADED TO LIGHTNING
Noah Hanifin, defenceman
The Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning have been engaged in in-depth trade discussions surrounding defenceman Noah Hanifin.
TFP first reported Tampa’s interest in Hanifin last month soon after Mikhail Sergachev went down with his injury and will miss the rest of the regular-season.
During “Saturday Headlines” on Hockey Night in Canada this evening, Elliotte Friedman reported Tampa’s continued interest in Hanifin and also added that the Lightning are Hanifin’s preferred destination.
“I think that if this was so easy to do, it would be done already,” Friedman said. “Everybody continues to work at it.”
It is unclear if the Lightning have been granted permission to speak with Hanifin’s agent about a contract extension, who had an eight-year contract offer on the table from Calgary worth $7.5 million per season.
If the Flames and Lightning are unable to come to terms on a trade, Friedman noted Calgary will pivot and explore additional options ahead of Friday’s 3pm ET trade deadline.
Hanifin, who has an eight-team no-trade list, comes with a $4.95 million salary cap hit this season and the Lightning have $7.383 million in available cap space through LTIR, according to CapFriendly.