Flames' Markstrom trying to block out trade noise, but it can't be easy

CALGARY - Jacob Markstrom wasn’t in the mood to play along.

His afternoon had just been cut embarrassingly short by the team’s second-consecutive faceplant, opening up the easy narrative that suggests trade speculation surrounding him and his team is taking its toll.

“What noise are you talking about?” challenged Jacob Markstrom.

With the sting of a 5-0 home loss to the Red Wings still fresh, there was no chance he was going to disarm his facetious response with a wink or smile.

Instead, he was all business in a business it just happens to be his turn to have his future debated as publicly as a ban on plastic bags.

“Everyone here is a professional, paid to play hockey and that’s all you can do.

“We’ve got to keep doing it. You guys have been talking about it all year. We’ve just got to play.”

Pressed further about how he’s been able to handle it personally, the man still fuming from his shortest outing of the year was understandably curt.

“Right now I’m not thinking about it,” he said.

“I just got pulled early in the second period, so bad timing for that question.”

Good on the 34-year-old netminder for addressing the media after allowing four goals on 12 shots before he was pulled seven minutes into the second – a rare dud from a man back in Vezina-calibre form.

For a guy who had last been seen slamming his stick on top of the boards as he finished hockey’s longest skate to the bench, he was remarkably even-keeled.

This can’t be easy.

One week after Elliotte Friedman opened a can of worms by revealing the Flames had trade talks with New Jersey involving the Flames goaltending star, the league’s reigning player of the week returns home and gets torched.

Of course people will put the two together.

How’d he see it?

“It was short.”

Did he have trouble seeing the puck?

“No, I saw all four pucks go in,” he deadpanned.

“It’s frustrating. 

“You want to be there for the guys and the fans who paid money to come watch us play.”

“We had a hell of a road trip. First game back was a tough one (a 6-3 loss to San Jose with Dustin Wolf in net). 

“We did everything right the first 15 of tonight’s game... we got them where we wanted.

“But, slippery slope.”

Well put for the MVP of a team that was on top of the world last week in New York State where only the Rangers were able to put an end to the team’s four-game winning streak.

And now, this — two flops at home where the Flames are now below .500 thanks to a stretch that has seen them win one of their last seven.

It could get worse, as the high-flying Jets come calling Monday, followed by a Bruins visit Thursday that sets up a doozy in Edmonton next Saturday.

For a young, recalibrating team that had built up so much goodwill by staying on the fringes of a wild card race, what lies ahead threatens to be a very frustrating reality check for a fan base that should be bracing for plenty of those over the next several years. 

It’s clear Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev will be dealt before the Mar. 8 trade deadline, and the possibility of a Markstrom trade will undoubtedly linger right through the summer, if not addressed in the next three weeks.

“Every team in the league has got trade talk right now, one way or another – that’s what this time of year brings about,” said Blake Coleman, insisting the noise isn’t what prompted back-to-back laughers.

“You’ve got to be a big boy and push that noise out and play your game.”

Truth is, the Flames have dealt with endless noise surrounding their team since opening week.

The Flames opened Saturday’s matinee in fine form, before a Patrick Kane power-play goal late in the first was followed one minute later with a groaner.

A questionable penalty call that led to Detroit’s third goal early in the second was killer.

It certainly does feel like setbacks like those are getting harder and harder to rebound from given the ongoing reality they’ll soon have their defensive corps gutted.

With the Flames holding up the trade market with three of the most desirable assets, it’s easy to understand why morale may be tough to keep up and things appear to be unravelling.

The threat of losing two leaders who make up one of the league’s best defensive duos can do that. 

“I don’t think that’s an issue at all – we’ve got some really good pros,” said coach Ryan Huska of the uncertainty surrounding his team’s roster. 

“As much as I would love for them to stay right off of social media and all that stuff, they’ve all been around and they understand this time of year.

“It’s nothing new for them.”

What’s new is that for a rare, brief, moment of time, the Flames are in the NHL’s spotlight.

And no matter how they play they’ll stay there until the Mar. 8 deadline passes.