The Calgary Flames appeared motivated to move Jacob Markstrom at the deadline, and while they ultimately held onto him, it wasn't for a lack of trying.
Jacob Markstrom blocked a trade to a division rival?
While we knew that Jacob Markstrom was linked to the New Jersey Devils, who he willingly waived his no movement clause for, but the same can't be said for another contending team.
According to a report from The Hockey Writers, the Flames approached Markstrom about a move that would send him West to the Los Angeles Kings, but like Linus Ullmark, Markstrom declined, citing his lack of a desire to live in California.
On deadline day, it was reported they struck a deal with the Boston Bruins to acquire goaltender Linus Ullmark before he shut it down by his no-trade clause. Recently, Nick Kypreos reported on Kyper's Korner that a deal was in place to send Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames to the Kings, but he shut it down with his no-trade clause too.
Given that he accepted a deal to play in New Jersey before ownership nixed that deal, it makes sense that Markstrom didn't want to play on the West Coast, but given the assets that the Kings could offer Calgary, they must be disappointed that he turned down the potential move.
Now, all attention for Markstrom turns to the summer, where the team will likely look to trade him in favour of Dustin Wolf and a several year rebuild, and given his play this season, he's expected to garner plenty of attention. The 34-year old was expected to be a Vezina Trophy finalist this season before an injury has taken him out, with him potentially missing significant time before the end of the year, but now we know one thing for sure, and that is that he doesn't want to play out West.
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