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Blues trade goaltender Brian Elliott to Flames

NHL, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Calgary Flames addressed their biggest need entering the NHL draft weekend by acquiring goalie Brian Elliott in a trade with the St. Louis Blues for their second-round pick this season.

Flames general manager Brad Treliving said Thursday he was intent on landing a goalie. But he didn't necessarily think the team was close to a deal.

"To handicap it, we're looking at everything and balancing it," Treliving said. "You know we're going to have one come October."

The 31-year-old Elliott has seven seasons of NHL experience and was 23-8-6 last season, plus started and starred for most of St. Louis' playoff run this spring that ended in the Blues' first appearance in the Western Conference finals since 2001. Besides acquiring the 35th overall pick in this year's draft, the Blues get a conditional third-round selection in 2018, which depends on whether the Flames re-sign Elliott.

"You need a dance partner, that's how it works," Treliving said. "But you'd always like to get that taken care of, and that's sort of our preference right now."

The Blues' starting job goes to Jake Allen, who shared the job with Elliott last season. They also need salary-cap space to re-sign forwards Jaden Schwartz and David Backes.

Elliott is due to be an restricted free agent after next season.

Sources told ESPN's Pierre LeBrun the Flames also spoke to Pittsburgh about Marc-Andre Fleury and Tampa Bay about Ben Bishop.

The Flames have had difficulty filling the goalie spot after Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo, Joni Ortio and Niklas Backstrom split the duties last season. All four completed the final years of their contracts, with Ortio the only one eligible to be a restricted free agent.

Elliott spent the past five seasons with St. Louis and was 104-46-16 with a 2.01 goals-against average. He has 34 career shutouts, including a franchise-record 25 for St. Louis.

"When Calgary called I thought it was a good fit," Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. "I thought we got good value. The trade that Toronto made the other day [for goalie Frederik Andersen] was for pick No. 30 and a second[-round pick], for a young goaltender. I thought pick No. 35 and a [third-round pick] was proper value."

Added Armstrong: "When you look at the value of what the Toronto trade was, I think this is very similar with an older goaltender.''

Armstrong added that the Blues already have started talks with remaining No. 1 goalie Jake Allen on a contract extension. He's got one year left on his current deal.

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN's Pierre LeBrun was used in this report.

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