A year ago, the Calgary Flames finished off 2023 by beating the Philadelphia Flyers on New Year’s Eve.
It’s sort of remarkable to look back today and think about how much has changed in 365 days.
The team that night featured Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube, Adam Ruzicka, Andrew Mangiapane, Chris Tanev, Dennis Gilbert, Noah Hanifin, Jordan Oesterle, A.J. Greer and Jacob Markstrom.
Not a single one of them is with the Flames today.
And yet, despite the exodus of veteran talent throughout 2024, the Flames are actually in a better position in the standings than they were a year ago.
On Dec. 31, 2023, the Flames had a 15-16-5 record through 36 games. That gave them 35 points.
Heading into Tuesday night’s New Year’s Eve matchup with the Vancouver Canucks, the new-look Flames are 17-12-7 through 36 games. That’s earned them 41 points, five ahead of their pace from last year.
They got younger, restocked their cupboard of draft picks and cleared a tonne of cap space without getting demonstrably worse.
Unless you’re one of those people who believes the Flames should have blown it up and completely tanked to go after the highest draft picks possible, it’s hard to look at the job GM Craig Conroy did in 2024 and not be impressed.
With that in mind, let’s look back at some of the biggest moves Conroy made this year and do our best to evaluate how they look today:
The Elias Lindholm trade
The move: Trading Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks for Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, a 2024 first-round draft pick and a conditional 2024 fourth-round draft pick
How it looks today: The Flames got a huge haul for Lindholm from the Canucks, who would surely make the same move again. They were in contention and strengthening their hand for the stretch run and dealing for a guy like Lindholm is a move every fanbase would want their team to make in that position, even if he signed with the Boston Bruins in free agency this summer.
For the Flames, Brzustewicz may very well wind up being the centrepiece of this deal. The 20-year-old defenceman put up huge numbers for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL last season and is adjusting to life as a pro this winter, having scored once and added 10 assists in 30 games for the Calgary Wranglers.
Jurmo has split time between the Wranglers and the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush. The Finnish blueliner remains a work in progress but has the tools to succeed at the highest level.
The Flames used the first-round pick they received in this deal on Matvei Gridin, a Russian winger who is 11th in QMJHL scoring with 18 goals and 21 assists as of Monday morning. His future is bright.
Kuzmenko has fallen off this season, though, scoring only once for the Flames. He’s an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
All around, the Flames got two high-end prospects in Brzustewicz and Gridin and another, in Jurmo, who shouldn’t be written off just yet. It was a good deal for both sides.
The Chris Tanev trade
The move: Flames trade Chris Tanev to the Dallas Stars for Artem Grushnikov, a 2024 second-round pick and a conditional 2026 third-round pick
How it looks today: The Stars got one of the league’s most selfless defenceman and he helped them make it all the way to the Western Conference Final before signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency.
For the Flames, they got a stay-at-home defenceman in Grushnikov who is still developing with the Wranglers but appears to have a high ceiling in a couple of years. His offensive numbers don’t pop, but his calling card is his play in his own end.
They also used the second-round draft pick on Jacob Battaglia, who has scored 20 goals and added 24 assists in 34 games with the Kingston Frontenacs and plays with an edge that could make him a fan favourite in Calgary a few years down the line.
The Noah Hanifin trade
The move: Flames trade Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights for defenceman Daniil Miromanov, a 2025 first-round draft pick and a conditional third-round pick in 2025
How it looks today: In Hanifin, the Golden Knights got an in-his-prime defenceman who already has over 700 games of NHL experience to his name but whose best years should still be ahead of him. They signed him to an eight-year deal.
The Flames got a first-round pick out of the deal and we’ll see who they wind up taking next summer. They immediately signed Miromanov to a two-year contract extension. His play has been inconsistent at times this season and he’s scored once and added five assists while playing nearly 19 minutes per game, mostly alongside MacKenzie Weegar this year.
The Jacob Markstrom trade
The move: Flames trade Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils for defenceman Kevin Bahl and a first-round pick in the 2025 draft
How it looks today: Markstrom is one of the top goalies in the league, but he was surplus to requirements in Calgary. The Flames were ready to give Dustin Wolf more time between the pipes, and the tandem he’s formed alongside Dan Vladar has been excellent this year. Markstrom’s posted a 2.11 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage for the Devils, so there won’t be any complaints about the deal in New Jersey.
The same can be said about Calgary fans, though. Bahl has been excellent since arriving at the Saddledome, partnering with Rasmus Andersson to form the Flames’ top blueline pairing. Only Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar are getting more ice time per game than Bahl, who is still only 24 years old and could be an important part of the Flames’ plans going forward.
The Andrew Mangiapane trade
The move: Flames trade Andrew Mangiapane to the Washington Capitals for a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft
How it looks today: At the time, it looked like this move was all about the Flames doubling down on building for the future. They gave up an in-his-prime winger and only got a draft pick in return, but the team’s solid play in the opening months of the season suggests they weren’t just giving up on the 2024-25 season after all.
Mangiapane’s been good for a really strong Capitals team, scoring eight goals and adding six assists while playing his usual, defensively responsible game.
For the Flames, they added a pick and retained no salary.
The waivers claims
The moves: Claiming Brayden Pachal and Joel Hanley off waivers
How they look today: The Flames claimed Brayden Pachal in early February after the Golden Knights had placed him on waivers, and then picked up Hanley a month later when the Stars did the same.
They were both shrewd additions. Pachal has played every game for the Flames so far this season, bringing a physicality to the blue-line that they sometimes lack. A few weeks ago, they signed the 25-year-old to a two-year contract extension.
Hanley has been more in and out of the lineup, playing in only 11 games this year but providing reliable minutes when he’s called upon.
The free agent signings
The moves: Signing Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Mantha, Justin Kirkland and Jake Bean in free agency
How they look today: Conroy was busy in the opening hours of free agency, but he was careful to avoid signing anyone to long-term deals that would eat up too much cap space.
Mantha was signed to a one-year, $3.5-million deal and came in looking to prove that he was deserving of a long-term contract next summer. He was hungry and the early returns were encouraging, as he scored four goals and added three assists before a knee injury ended his season in early November. It was a low-risk deal and it’s unfortunate how it’s played out.
Lomberg, meanwhile, signed a two-year contract with an annual cap hit of $2 million. He’s been exactly as advertised. A high-energy fourth-liner who is great in the locker room, Lomberg instantly re-established himself as a fan favourite and excellent teammate in his second go-around with the Flames.
Kirkland was one of the great stories of 2024, both for the Flames and around the hockey world. He was signed to a one-year, two-way contract that was due to pay him $775,000. After playing in only nine NHL games since being drafted in 2014, he got an early call-up from the Wranglers and once he got on the ice for the Flames, he stayed there. Kirkland scored twice and added six assists in 21 games while also scoring three beautiful shootout goals before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
And Bean has been quietly going about and doing his job. He’s appeared in 23 games on the Flames blueline, scoring once and adding three assists. The Calgary native signed a two-year deal that’s paying him $1.75 million annually.
