Fresh off the big trade that he executed with the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames GM Craig Conroy joined Matt Marchese on The Jeff Marek Show to break down the trade with the Canucks, what to expect going forward, and even more. Here’s what he said:
Trading Elias Lindholm to the Canucks
Conroy and the Canucks had developed a strong working relationship with each other, and following the Nikita Zadorov trade, the Canucks told Conroy that they had interest in Elias Lindholm. Having already discussed some of what the Flames were looking for, the Canucks came in with an aggressive offer and from there the rest is history. The Flames were able to land Kuzmenko as part of that deal.
While the Flames were on Kuzmenko’s no-trade list, Conroy was confident that he was able to get him to waive it. It was clear that the player wanted a change of scenery, and Conroy mentioned that he wanted to see him play big minutes—particularly on the power play—and to see him score lots of goals in Calgary. While he was careful not to put too much pressure on the young Russian, he was clear that he saw a high chance that Kuzmenko could be an impact player for this team.
Conroy went on to compare Kuzmenko to Yegor Sharangovich, another player who had a ton of potential but wasn’t playing in the optimal spot in the lineup. The Flames had great success getting Sharangovich going, particularly with Jonathan Huberdeau, and felt confident that the coaching staff could do the same with Kuzmenko.
Beyond Kuzmenko, the Flames were really lucky to be able to land Hunter Brzustewicz in the deal. Marchese noted that the one knock on the American blueliner was his skating, and asked Conroy if he was worried about that. Conroy noted that the key to development was the players’ willingness to put in the work to get better.
Having done his due diligence on Brzustewicz, Conroy was confident that he was keen to do the work to get better and improve. He went on to say that Brzustewicz’s intangibles were things that you cannot teach, and particularly his compete level and offensive instincts were some of the things he was most excited about.
Discussing some of the Flames’ young players
Marchese went on to ask about some of the young players who have had so much success, specifically Connor Zary, Sharangovich, and others. Conroy called out the production of Zary and Martin Pospisil as players he was very enthused by. He also specifically noted the impact that Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund had on their production.
What to expect coming next
The big question from this interview was about the other pending UFAs, including Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev. Marchese asked whether the Lindholm trade was an indication of the organizational direction, and Conroy in a roundabout way said basically no. Lindholm was not going to sign with the Flames, so that made the direction quite easy, but the team continues to work with the players and agents to see what makes the most sense.
However, Conroy never used the term rebuild, instead terming the Lindholm trade as part of a “retool on the fly.” Adding Kuzmenko as a proven scorer in the NHL to complement really good production from some of their younger players is a key part of their success. He also spoke about how good all three of the Flames’ goalies have been, particularly Jacob Markstrom of late, who is having a Vezina-calibre season this year.
There is clearly a lot that Conroy is optimistic about with this team, and has a good idea of what he wants to see from this group going forward. If he’s excited about this team, then I am too.
