It’s a lot quieter than it was a year ago.
And that’s probably for the best.
In his first year on the job as Calgary Flames GM, Craig Conroy had little choice but to wheel and deal.
Veterans wanted out and Conroy accommodated them by trading them away throughout the 2023-24 season before the Flames lost them for nothing in free agency.
In the off-season, he then dealt away a couple more vets to make room for younger players who were ready for more playing time.
Was it a teardown? Not quite to the studs, but when you trade away Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Andrew Mangiapane and Jacob Markstrom in roughly a single calendar year, it’s close.
With the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline set for Friday at 1 p.m. MT, though, Conroy is in a very different position.
He has the chance to put his stamp on the team, just like every GM around the league.
For Conroy, though, the best move may be doing nothing all.
We know what Conroy would, hypothetically, be interested in. And we know what wouldn’t tickle his fancy, too.
He isn’t interested in veteran rentals. Not now and not when acquiring them would require trading away prospects or draft picks. That doesn’t fit the long-term plan.
And we know he’s not looking to trade away any more of his own veterans. Not when the Flames are sitting in the Western Conference’s second wild-card position heading into Thursday night’s action.
What would tempt Conroy?
“The mindset has always been we’d do what helps in the long-term, not just the short-term,” Conroy explained.
If there’s a guy in their early 20s who can help the Flames over the next couple of years, they’d surely be interested. It’s just that there aren’t that many of those players on the market right now.
Dylan Cozens’ name continually comes up, but every report indicates the Buffalo Sabres are looking for a sizable package in return – and not just prospects or picks.
Beyond that, the lists of available players that experts are constructing just don’t seem to really fit what the Flames are doing right now.
Would 28-year-old winger Mikko Rantanen look good in a Flames uniform? You bet, but he’s an unrestricted free-agent in the summer and there’s no guarantee he’d re-sign. The cost would be high and the Flames would be smart to not give anything up for a guy they might lose in a few months anyways.
Brock Nelson? Kyle Palmieri? Brandon Tanev? You could argue that any of them would make the Flames better right now, but none fit the age profile the Flames are looking for.
And so, if the right deal that works within the confines of the Flames’ re-tooling plan – or whatever you want to call it – isn’t available, maybe the best move is the one that doesn’t happen. Stand pat, enjoy the final month of this surprising season and hope the current group can sneak into the playoffs.
Unless you’re one of those people who still thinks the Flames should throw in the towel and tank, tank, tank, that actually sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it? It’s something to be excited about this spring, at least.
And by keeping all the picks and prospects the Flames have acquired over the past 21 months, there’s a lot more to look forward to in the next few years, too.
Zayne Parekh will probably be with the team this fall. Matvei Gridin is having a nice season in the QMJHL. If Sam Honzek can build off the training camp he had this year, maybe he’s ready to contribute, too.
Those all are first-round picks from the past two years and they’ll be foundational pieces for the future Conroy is trying to build. The Flames have at least two more first-rounders this season, too, and nothing that happens now should sacrifice the years ahead.
Conroy already took one swing in the lead up to the deadline when he traded away Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko to the Philadelphia Flyers for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee.
If that’s the only trade he makes this winter and it’s quiet on Friday, that would send a loud message that the Flames believe their plan is working and they’re sticking to it.
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