It isn't a problem with the argument if it's difficult to compare Hanifin with Tkachuk, because the point is the principle of trading the highest-value asset instead of the one that best improves the team. The conversation around the Flames has been whether they'll make a trade deadline deal to improve their chances in the playoffs. We have heard tangible rumours and speculation about using forward prospects like Mangiapane and Dube, or defence prospects like Kylington or Valimaki. Your suggestion of upgrading to trading Hanifin instead of those defencemen would be like upgrading to trading Tkachuk instead of those forwards. How does it help the team more right now to trade away a better player, if you can instead package futures? It doesn't, and thus it doesn't make sense.
If the price for guys we want ends up being higher than we are willing to pay in futures, then we should walk away. We shouldn't just switch strategies entirely. The team is on top of the division, and should be looking to buy. Players always talk about the morale boost in the locker room from any kind of buyer trade at the deadline, as a vote of confidence from the front office. A more lateral "hockey" deal, given the current situation of this team, would shake up the dressing room in a way that I'm not sure makes sense, and I don't think would be beneficial. It would show the team that the front office is okay with losing now in hopes of winning in a few years, and it would show that management doesn't really care about the players who got them to this point. And again, it would be entirely different if we weren't in the spot we're in right now.