Report: Bruins, Lightning interested in Flames' Hanifin

The rumor mill keeps on churning for the Calgary Flames.

The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning are among teams showing interest in pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Noah Hanifin, reports The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

Hanifin is currently No. 1 on theScore's list of players who could be shipped out by the March 8 deadline.

The puck-moving rearguard has racked up 34 points and a career-high 11 goals in 59 games this season while averaging almost 24 minutes of ice time per contest. He carries a cap hit of $4.95 million and has some control over his situation thanks to his eight-team no-trade list.

A left-handed shot, Hanifin would address an area of need for both the Bruins and Lightning. Boston is currently without Hampus Lindholm, who's week-to-week with an undisclosed issue, while Mikhail Sergachev is out indefinitely for Tampa Bay with a leg injury.

However, the two Atlantic Division squads are each missing their first-round pick in this summer's draft. The Lightning, in particular, don't own a first-rounder until 2026.

The Flames have been the league's busiest team leading up to the deadline. They shipped out Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks in separate trades earlier this season, and they just sent Chris Tanev to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

Hanifin has been traded once before in his career. The Carolina Hurricanes packaged him and Elias Lindholm to the Flames in June 2018 in exchange for Dougie Hamilton, Adam Fox, and Micheal Ferland.

The 27-year-old has totaled 60 goals and 273 points in 657 career NHL games.

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