So the latest on Flames trade watch is this:

1) On Saturday night, Darryl Sutter told Elliotte Friedman, roughly, "if we were to trade Tanguay, the return would have to be significant, because I consider him to be one of the top LW in the game."

This strikes me as a strange thing to say if a deal is in the works: (A) because why would you talk up a player you're about to deal and raise the bar re: the return, risking fan/media backlash; and (B) because even when Sutter is essentially honest and straightforward, he hasn't seemed inclined to telegraph his moves.

Further to that, Tanguay told reporters at Sunday's super-skills dealy and at practice yesterday morning that he hasn't waived his No-Trade Clause, nor has he been asked to.

2) Judging by Flames radio last night, the expectation that he'll be dealt is stronger than ever, and the sense of imminence is stronger to boot.

I have no idea what's going on, but smoke, fire, etc.

So on Friday, I did something I've never done before. I sent similar but personal emails to Jean LeFebvre, Eric Duhatschek, Eric Francis, and Bruce Dowbiggin, each with a link to my EV scoring since the lockout post, a brief explanation of what it was about, and a plea (for lack of a better word) that they'd find it interesting -- and by extension, possibly note themselves (for a bigger audience than I have) that Tanguay is a valuable player.

As Andy posted yesterday, LeFebvre did in fact reference my figures in a Calgary Herald piece (ran in the National Post too), and then followed up on his blog as well. So did Eric Francis:

...with Huselius shining on the top line and three key players all in need of new contracts, many argue it's prudent to open up cap space and deal Tanguay. The trick is receiving someone of equal value to the team so the club doesn't sacrifice a potential Cup run this spring for the sake of next year. That is almost impossible given Tanguay is the seventh-most productive even-strength NHLer (based on points and even-strength minutes played) since the lockout.
[...]
Sutter must tread carefully because few players in the league could fill Tanguay's shoes. Saying goodbye to a playmaker isn't as easy or simple as it may appear.

No, it certainly isn't. Also, Duhatschek reminded me that he had written about Tanguay's EV proficiency at the beginning of the season.

It feels somewhat strange to be an active advocate for a particular move (or non-move) rather than a passive one, commenting from 10,000 feet in the air, but on the other hand, what the hell. The data is legit, I care if the Flames do well (hope that's not a surprise to any readers), and I think they'd be worse the rest of this season AND next season if they traded Tanguay away, as mentioned ad nauseam.

[Today's fun fact: I took a spin through some randomly selected Colorado games from '05/06, using Vic's H2H icetime site. You know who Tanguay was piling up the EV points with? You guessed it: Brett Maclean and Ian Laperriere.]

The Flames host Minnesota tonight (7PM MT, RSN West), and (barring a Colorado win) can jump into a (baseball) tie for the division lead. Dunno why their mojo has been so good v. the Wild in the past couple of years, but it has... Calgary 3 (Moss, Iginla, Phaneuf) Minnesota 1 (Mr. Burns). Go Flames.