Don't hate the offer but, I don't think Calgary would look to trade him in the division unless they have no other offers

At his cap hit and the minutes he's been playing in Minny, you could argue Middleton is worth a 1st, especially if you get him for a whole season

Middleton is worth your 1st

I don't think its an issue of division because the Flames wouldn't be competitive for at least another 2-3 years and by then Markstrom is either going to be not as good or leave as a UFA, the only issue would be trading him to Edmonton which ofc wouldn't happen.

If the offer was good enough from the Kings I think they'd take it

Massive over payment in both trades.

Middleton on almost any other team in the league is at very best a 6th defenseman.

Markstrom will be 35 at the beginning of the season not saying he isnt capable of playing goalie but we had old Cam Talbot and Rittich who both played better than Markstrom at literally half his salary after he has been 50% retained. If we go to another old tender it will be a much cheaper one in the free agency market and save all our assets on a risk like that.

Middleton is a #5 at the very worst, but it's more correct to say he's a low-end #4. He's absolutely not a a #6. And that defense he's currently on, and has been playing in the top-4 in, until this year, had been a top-ten defense in the league for the last decade. Most teams in the league wish they had a Middleton.

Fun fact: Middleton has not played outside the top-four since breaking into the NHL at age 25. And has been playing against opposing teams top-lines ever since then.

His regular D-partners since coming into the league have been.

1) Brent Burns
2) Erik Karlsson
3) Jared Spurgeon
4) Brock Faber

But, he's going to play on other teams 3rd pairings as their #6. Right, sure, whatever you say to make your excuse fly.

Easy to play a top 4 role on a defense that has no one on the left, his only competition in SJ was Vlasic who hasn't been relevant in almost 7 yrs and the only one he is competing with in MIN is Brodin otherwise both teams defense are garbage. MIN had Bogosian playing in the top 4 most of the season for crying out loud lol

There is not a single playoff team that Middleton would play higher than the third pairing on thats just a fact.

What does Bogo playing 2nd pairing this past season due to Spurgeon being out for most of year with injury mean anything to this conversation?

You clearly don't seem to have a clue. Again, Minnesota has had a TOP TEN RANKED DEFENSE, NINE OUT OF THE PAST TEN YEARS.

Do you know which year they weren't? The answer is 2023-2024. In short, this last one. Which just maaaaybe might have something to due with an injury plagued defensive core. Or not, since you seem to be so sure of yourself.

Do you seriously expect me to not laugh at the notion that Minnesota's defense is garbage? Because I'm pretty amused right now. You do realize of course, that there's a literal difference between a defense being genuinely horrible and one that's typically a top ranked defense that's decimated by injuries. Right?

Brodin barely played 60 games this past year and Spurgeon only played SIXTEEN games. That's two of Minnesota’s top four out for significant time.

When healthy there's probably only maybe 6 defensive cores I'd likely take over Minnesota’s in any given situation. That includes Middleton. So you're either extremely uninformed or just looking to troll.

Middleton has only been there for 2 seasons and one of those the team had horrible defense with Middleton playing in the top 4. My point exact, he doesn't belong in the top 4 and that the only reason why he gets top 4 minuets is because the team is either riddled with injuries or their left side sucks. I used Bogosian to help you understand that guys were playing up in the lineup that never should have been but because of injuries they got moved up. Middleton belong no where near the top 4, next year when you guys have the cap space you'll see either Middleton wont get resigned cause they wont need a 3m man on the third pair or they will resign him and he will play on the bottom pair.