Although there has been a brighter stretch of late, trade rumors, particularly regarding defenseman Nikita Zadorov, are not going away with the Calgary Flames and Mikael Backlund, the club’s captain, has simply had enough.
In fact, Sportsnet network whistleblower Elliotte Friedman revealed on Saturday’s “Saturday Headlines” segment that Backlund had had a discussion on the topic with several of his teammates.
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“Backlund spoke to several players, I don’t know if it was as a group or individually, but he said, ‘We have to stop the noise,'” Friedman said on air.
“There are too many distractions in the team. Remember what happened last Friday [Nikita] Zadorov, he [Backlund] said: “Enough is enough, we have to concentrate on our game. If you don’t want to be here, tell the GM [Craig Conroy]”.”
In addition to the Russian defenseman, players like Christopher Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm would attract the attention of several teams across the National Hockey League.
After starting the year with a 2-7-1 record after ten games, the Flames are 4-1-2 in their last seven games.