This deal, combined with the MacKinnon deal, give the Flames salary cap certainty for the next three seasons. 

"Yesterday we made the tough decision to deal Nate to the Penguins for promising young defenceman Jakob Chychrun and Neal Pionk. We knew Nate was deservedly headed towards a big payday next year, and on top of that, we have expiring contracts coming up on our defence. To get Jake was a big plus for us. He is young, talented, and signed to a very manageable three year deal."

Of course, moving one of the top six forwards to acquire a top four defenceman made a hole and created a surplus, so, GM Nagle got busy hitting the phones to move one of his prized defenceman.

"We had a lot of options, some made more sense than others. We could have gotten younger, but it would have cost us prospect depth. But then along came Adam of Seattle with a proposal that made a lot of sense to us. Carl Hagelin gives us that speed and skating prowess that we will miss with big Nate moving on. He's got skills and once had a 73-point season in this league. Carl fills that void on our top six. And again, his contract is mangeable at three years."

When it shakes down to it, the Flames shipped out F Nathan MacKinnon, D Adam Larsson and Boston's 2nd round pick in 2026 for F Carl Hagelin, D Jakob Chychrun and D Neal Pionk. With the two deals, the Flames get younger, and are now set to have all six of their top forwards signed through 2029. The core was retooled, and are poised to be here for some time.