Three potential frontrunners emerge for Noah Hanifin's services

Earlier this year, Hanifin approached Flames management and informed the team that he would not sign an extension in Calgary. With the wheels falling off in Calgary and everyone seemingly wanting out, GM Craig Conroy is not in an enviable position. The team should be able to fetch a solid return for Hanifin, but it will almost certainly come at the expense of having to trigger a top-to-bottom rebuild - unless the plan is to do a bit of an aggressive re-tool on the fly, much like they did last year when Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk left the organization.

We know that Hanifin's preference is to play for an American team, but the fact remains that the blueliner only has an 8-team no-trade clause in his contract. If he hasn't included each other Canadian team on that list, he'll still be eligible to be moved north of the border if the Flames feel like they're getting the best return for him there. However, the best option still remains a sign-and-trade scenario involving an American team to extract maximum trade value.

According to Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News there are 3 teams currently in hot pursuit of Hanifin's services.

The one team I do wonder about here, however, is the Toronto Maple Leafs. They're close to both the Michigan and New York borders and are a contending team. There's also a pre-existing history there between Hanifin and Leafs GM Brad Treliving. Just some food for thought.