TWC 2023–24 Calgary Flames Year-End Survey Results

The 2023–24 Calgary Flames season has come to an end. We decided to ask you, the fans, how you are feeling. The Win Column conducted a survey to get your thoughts on management, coaching, ownership, the upcoming draft, and whether or not you would keep or trade certain players. After more than 310 responses, it’s time to share the results!

Thoughts on General Manager Craig Conroy

After dealing all five remaining unrestricted free agents before the deadline, people are very satisfied with Conroy’s first year as GM, with 44.2% of people saying he even exceeded expectations. That’s fair. I would not have bet on the Flames actually picking a course of action and moving all those guys. Admittedly, I was very surprised that 72.6% of respondents think Conroy is the guy who can manage the Flames to a Stanley Cup.

Craig definitely deserves praise for moving the UFAs, but let’s not forget the reason a few of them are gone is because they rejected huge contract offers beforehand. Both Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin did receive eight-year offers at more than 8 million dollars annually. And selling players is the easy part of the job. Brad Treliving looks like an absolute genius for trading Curtis Glencross for a second- and third-round pick in 2015. And we are left with many remnants now that remind us that Treliving wasn’t overly fantastic at his job.

We also asked what the first thing you would do if you were put into Craig Conroy’s seat for one day. Here are some of the responses:

• A whopping 89 (!) respondents had some form of “Trade Markstrom” in their answer.
• 14 respondents said they would trade Jonathan Huberdeau. I love your enthusiasm.
• 9 respondents mentioned they would trade for another first-rounder in the 2024 draft.
• 8 respondents said they would trade Andrew Mangiapane.
• 7 respondents said they would publicly declare a full rebuild.
• Another 7 respondents mentioned they would draft Tij Iginla.
• The funniest portion was 5 respondents mentioning they’d give Sharangovich an extension, while 4 respondents said they’d trade him.
• 3 respondents mentioned they would fire Flames Director of Amateur Scouting Tod Button.

Here are some of the great one-liners:

• “Start planning a mutiny against Murray Edwards”
• “Call Treliving an offer him Hunt, Rooney, and a bag of pucks for William Nylander“
• “Change the beer from Original 16”
• “Give Harvey a raise”
• My personal favourite was “Tell a Jarome Iginla story”. Conroy absolutely loves his Iginla stories.

Thoughts on Head Coach Ryan Huska

This was kind of the response I expected for Huska. 71.4% of respondents believe that Huska met their expectations. I would be in that camp as well. There were a few highs, and some lows. A lot of guys out the door. Quite a few players did have career years. But a few players (notably Jonathan Huberdeau) took some steps back. I’m not surprised that 66.8% of respondents believe Huska is not the guy who can coach the Flames to a Stanley Cup.

Thoughts on Flames ownership

Whether it be the rumoured nixing of a Markstrom trade or the lack of playoff success in the last twenty years, fans are done with this ownership group. 71.4% of respondents agreed that it is time for new ownership. Now, I doubt that happens with Murray Edwards and Co. just getting a new arena deal. But, I guess there’s always hope.

Thoughts on the Flames scouting staff and your thoughts on the 2024 NHL Draft

I was a little surprised with this result as well. It was a pretty even result for all three options. “Not confident” was the most selected choice. However, if we group in “very confident” and “confident” into the same category, that would be your winner. Tod Button and many of the scouting staff have held their positions for over 20 years, with a very mixed bag of results. You have the disastrous draft in 2014. You also have a really nice draft in 2015. Some absolute gems were grabbed in 2016. More recently, the 2021 and 2022 drafts don’t look great. 2023 is way too early to judge as Honzek has dealt with some injury problems, but a lot of prospects drafted after him are showing more promise.

To the surprise of no one, Tij Iginla interested 72.8% of respondents. I’m not shocked to see the WHL guys (Iginla, Lindstrom (61.6%), Catton (54%)) get the most votes, given that is the league most familiar to fans. I was a little surprised to see Yakemchuk get the second least votes, given he plays for the Hitmen. It should be interesting to see what the Flames do if they pick at ninth overall. The draft lottery is less than a week away! Lastly, we wanted to poll fans on drafting for need vs. BPA. The Flames need prospects at pretty much every position (except LW), but have big holes at C and RD. Still, 79.4% of fans chose the BPA. That is always the strategy I think an organization should have.

Thoughts on the direction of the team

The results were pretty mixed for this question, but 2026–27 received the most votes from fans. That’s probably a fair target given that will be around when the new arena is projected to open.

Look away Flames ownership, a rebuild is the preferred direction for the team going forward. And it should be. You don’t win in today’s league without elite talent. And a rebuild is the best way to get young elite talent. Calgary has been scared of the word rebuild for as long as I can remember, and look at the results it has brought forward. Flames fans deserve a perennial playoff contender, not just a playoff team.

73.5% of respondents do think that the Flames are going to rush the process this summer. That is my concern as well. The Flames will have cap space this summer, and some extra draft capital from the UFA trades this past year. An intelligent franchise would hold onto the draft capital and use the cap space to take on bad contracts in exchange for even more draft capital. Let’s hope the Flames are smart enough. With their emphasis on staying competitive, I am definitely concerned. Conroy was essentially capped out last summer, so this is his first real test. I wonder what James Neal or Troy Brouwer are up to these days?

The majority of respondents are concerned that the Flames planned re-tool means it’s likely there won’t be high picks in Calgary’s future. As mentioned previously, getting high picks isn’t a guarantee of future success, but it does give you the best chance at getting star players. Look at recent Cup winners with Eichel, Pietrangelo, MacKinnon, Makar, Landeskog, Stamkos, Hedman, Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, the list goes on. Sure, you also need to find a supporting cast with later picks. Smart organizations (and every recent Cup winner) have a good mix of both.

Keep or Trade (2024–25 UFAs)

The first of our ‘Keep or Trade’ is Andrew Mangiapane. An overwhelming majority of respondents (92.9%) are in favour of trading him. Of that, more favour trading Mangiapane this offseason.

The majority of respondents are in favour of the Flames re-signing Yegor Sharangovich. I personally do not share that sentiment, but I can certainly see the argument for signing Sharangovich to an extension. If he is moved, respondents would prefer if he is moved this summer as opposed to next year’s deadline. Presumably to cash in on his career season (and very likely the best season of his career output-wise).

Kuzmenko brings a ton of good vibes and certainly helped the Flames power play at season’s end. He is the most varied of the three, but the majority of respondents think trading Kuzmenko is the best course of action. However, unlike Mangiapane and Sharangovich, the vast majority would prefer to keep Kuzmenko and trade him at the 2024–25 deadline than move him this summer.

There are questions about who is part of the Flames core now, and who will be part of the core five years from now. Connor Zary and Dustin Wolf were your leading selections, fetching over 93% of selections. MacKenzie Weegar wasn’t too far behind receiving 89.4% of selections. Weegar does seem like the obvious choice to be the next captain of the Calgary Flames after Mikael Backlund. After our big three, Matt Coronato, Jonathan Huberdeau, Martin Pospisil, and Jakob Pelletier received over 50% of selections. Shoutouts to the one fan who checked off Jacob Markstrom. It’s a bold take, I hope it works out for you.

The Flames’ fan base

We wanted to throw this one in because I’ve seen it come up on various social medias. Funny enough, “Too positive” and “Too negative” came out nearly tied, with just one more voter in agreement that the Flames fan base and media are too positive.

We asked Flames fans to describe being a Flames fan with a song lyric. Here were some of the highlights:

• “I love it and I hate it at the same time”
• “It’s the same old story, same old song and dance, my friend”
• “I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending”
• “Whatever road you choose, I’m right behind you, win or lose”
• “Because I’d rather feel pain than nothing at all”
• “Stuck in the middle with you”

And shoutouts to a number of you who quoted lyrics from wildmusicyyc’s 2022 playoff anthem, ‘Win The Cup’.

We also asked Flames fans to describe the Flames’ future in one word. Here were some of the most common words:

• Uncertain (17)
• Hopeful (14)
• Bright (13)
• Bleak (11)
• Mediocre (8)
• Optimistic (8)
• Mid (8)
• Exciting (7)
• Murky (6)
• Cloudy (5)
• Directionless (3)
• Foggy (3)