Quoting: MoxNix
Except he wouldn't be a 6 or 7 on a lot of teams.
But on the Flames he is. With one of Meloche, Gilbert, Mackey, Valimaki, or the currently unsigned but long-time Flames seventh defenceman Michael Stone, likely taking the spot. It doesn’t make sense to keep Valimaki in this role unless they think he will get regular minutes.
This past season, Valimaki struggled to earn meaningful minutes in the NHL. He only featured in nine games for the Flames, he played mostly in a third pairing role with Ilya Solovyov in his time with the Heat.
The closest comparable trade that has happened is likely the Olli Juolevi trade in 2021 which sent the 2016 first-round pick to Florida for Noah Juulsen and Juho Lammikko. Do not expect the return for Valimaki to be much at all if the Flames do end up trading him.
He is most likely waived and picked up on waivers.
I will agree getting a 3rd team to retain on Kerfoot would help this trade, give CGY more cap flexibility. But there are going to be a lot of teams running a 21 man roster this year. It will certainly help have CGY farm team close by from now on