Oliver Ekman-Larsson being dealt is the absolute best case scenario. He's veteran who is performing at a high level on a manageable contract and is potentially the clearest path to the Maple Leafs acquiring a first round draft pick. Any ideal trade deadline needs to involve selling high on a player who has ping ponged between buyout calibre seasons and resurgences to his prime.
According to Natural Stat Trick, he has a 49.18 GF% and a 58.82 HDGF%. These numbers demonstrate that Carlo has decent defensive ability and excels when opponents are applying a lot of pressure. This is the type of player that every team love to have.
The parallels between the Blackhawks and Sharks run deep. Both Mike Grier and Kyle Davidson were named the permanent general managers of their respective clubs in 2022. And, as Pope writes, both teams went with the burn-it-down approach to their respective rebuilds. At this point, the Sharks are closer to the playoffs at this immediate moment - and appear to be pushing their chips in to go for it.
Years the Flames missed the playoffs under Brad Treliving: The 2015-16 trades of Kris Russell and Jiri Hudler in what ended up being the worst season the Flames had under Brad Treliving were the closest thing the Flames had to a sell off. The Flames would walk away with three second round picks and a couple of prospects and ideally this would be the results that Leafs fans should be hoping will be repeated.