While the Flames must deal away other pending unrestricted free agents, keeping Hanifin in the fold would be the smart play

With their playoff hopes becoming more and more fleeting, the Calgary Flames must be arriving at their day of reckoning.

It may be easy to say the Flames should do a complete teardown, but the reality remains that is not likely to happen.

However, reality also dictates this organization requires a deep reworking and must take advantage by selling most of the pending unrestricted free agents by the March 8 trade deadline.

Personally, the Flames must find the best deal for centre Elias Lindholm and defenceman Chris Tanev. It may be worthwhile to even nab draft picks for depth players who are pending UFAs, such as defenceman Dennis Gilbert and currently injured forward A.J. Greer.

Defenceman Oliver Kylington is also a pending UFA, and with him back playing now after missing more than one-and-a-half seasons, talks about his future are of utmost importance.

Which brings us to a polarizing debate; What is the best course of action regarding defenceman Noah Hanifin?

While a case can be made the Flames must trade Hanifin, here are three reasons the team is best served doing all it can to re-sign him:

A big-minute player in the prime of his career

Hanifin, who celebrated his 27th birthday last week, is second to Rasmus Andersson for ice-time-per-game, a leader in both even-strength and short-handed time, and would log more if the Flames were without a top four that also includes Tanev and MacKenzie Weegar. He faces top lines constantly and has the team’s best plus-minus among blueliners along with well above average analytics.

Sure, you would love a bit more offence, but his eight goals is on pace to obliterate his career high (10) and 25 points in 49 games is on pace for his second best ever total.

And don’t overlook that Andersson and Weegar are the only defencemen on the Flames roster who are signed beyond this season. Even if one or two prospects are ready to make a full-time jump, this team has significant holes to fill.

You play to win the game

It is undeniable that years of being mainly a mushy-middle team instead of falling to the basement has resulted in the Flames not having home-grown star power, especially right now.

While clamouring for a last-place team with the hopes of getting a number-one pick has everyone believing they can replicate the success of the Pittsburgh Penguins, there are clubs which bottomed out but are still trying to climb from their ashes, such as the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes.

Building around a trio of defencemen in Hanifin, Andersson and Weegar would allow the Flames to focus on a forward crew.

Future watch

Even if the Flames fall down the standings for the next couple of seasons, the most ardent members of the tear-it-down club are hoping to back a successful team within the next four or so years. Can we agree on that?

That would mean being a contender right in the heart of a deal that keeps Hanifin in the fold. Guaranteed, if the Flames are dreaming of a Stanley Cup runs in 2028 or '29, it will require the exact defenceman you already have.

Sure, the Flames may find one in the draft, but none of their current defence prospects appear to be Hanifin replacements. Even those with the highest hopes for Jeremie Poirier and Etienne Morin must realize they are both at least a couple of years away from being full-time NHLers, let alone impact players at both ends of the rink.