Over the last few weeks, I had the chance to chat with a few NHL front office members. I wanted to get an outside perspective on Craig Conroy’s GM tenure so far. Both were very generous with their time and gave fantastic answers. I thank both for their team and thoughtful answers.
Both front office members wanted to remain anonymous, so I will only provide their roles. Our first executive, who we will call Exec One, is an Assistant General Manager with an NHL club. Our second executive, who we will call Exec Two, is a Manager of Hockey Operations with an NHL club who assists with scouting and data/analytics.
Both executives work in different conferences, which gives us a sampling from both sides.
Q: Craig Conroy and co. made a lot of trades in their first year. How would you grade the first year and a half of Craig Conroy and this Calgary Flames front office?
Exec One: “It was a tough card he was dealt in his first year. Lots of guys up in the same year last year. And none wanted to stay. That’s a lot of contract offers. A lot of trade calls. That’s the good thing about being with the organization before taking the big job. Would have been even tougher sledding for someone externally. He’s done fine with most of the deals he made. I don’t deal with him directly, but he seems to be a solid, upbeat guy.”
Exec Two: “I think he’s done a good job for the most part. He could have got some better returns for some of the guys they dealt if they traded them in the summer as opposed to deadline. Hanifin in particular. I know we offered more for him in the summer than they got at the deadline. I think he’s given the players a little too much power in the decision-making. From an outside view, it sounds like they make a lot of the decisions. You have teams like Tampa or Vegas. Cup-winning teams. They can be harsh to their players in the name of winning. I’d put Calgary on the other end. Not a way I’d run an organization to win. It’s tough sledding for a first-time GM. He’s had a good start to building out their future blue line.”
Q: Lately, he has tried to quiet the noise. What do you think about this focus on staying competitive while calming the waters this year?
Exec One: “There was a lot of noise around Calgary last year. Seemed like we were hearing a new thing every week. I can understand wanting to keep things quiet. And props to them. It’s been real quiet. You always want to win games. We anticipated Calgary to keep trading away guys, but their upcoming free agents haven’t done much. We are certainly watching some of the guys who have a few years left there to see what the players decide to do with their future.”
Exec Two: “I’ve been really impressed with some of their young guys. I think that entire organization has benefitted from a quieter season so far. I think other teams have downplayed them. That’s my one observation every time I watch them play. Other teams already look focused on the next one. But Calgary works hard. I don’t know where they go from here, though. Our internal models aren’t high on them. Lots of veterans on long-term deals. Still missing a couple top of the lineup guys. They have a lot of similarities to the Blues, and they are modelled pretty similarly.”
Q: What are your thoughts on the first couple of drafts under Craig Conroy?
Exec One: “It feels like their drafting is better recently. Taking lots of what we call the point-getter class. There were a couple guys they drafted in 24 that we had character concerns with, so we will see how those turn out.”
Exec Two: “Just like most teams, there are selections I liked and others that I didn’t. But I seem to be liking more than I don’t like. The Suniev selection looks really good from 2023. Zarubin was our top-rated goalie last year, as I recall, so that was a good selection there. We didn’t love that Mews kid, but he’s looking really good now. Looks like they’ve taken a big step on the drafting side of things. I was impressed with their 2024 lot.”
Q: If you were in Craig Conroy’s shoes, where do you go from here?
Exec One: “I’m glad I’m not in his shoes. His young guys are performing well. Some of his vets are playing well. They don’t score a lot. They don’t have a top lineup guy or two to build around. They’ve shown that they aren’t a bad team, but they aren’t a good one either. Seems like they are always like that, haha!
If I were in his shoes, I’d probably look to deal some of their older guys and go from there. Last year was a good start. We’ve heard some chatter around them adding young centres, but no one gives the good ones up. And it seems like everyone is looking for centres on the market this year. I know when they interviewed GMs, I heard most of the candidates said they would completely gut and build that team up again. Those guys didn’t get the job, obviously.”
Exec Two: “Not sure what to say here, honestly. They have an alright team. I would continue trading guys out and rebuilding the roster, but that would piss off the veterans that stay. If they don’t do that, however, they aren’t going to be a good team, ever. That’s not a position I’d want to be in right now. There are a few organizations that seem to be stuck like that. Calgary is one of those. It’s hard for other teams to get up for games against teams like that. If our fans were put in that position, I know they wouldn’t be very happy. Says a lot that there’s still a loyal base in Calgary these last few years. They’ve had to be patient.”
Q: Biggest hit and biggest miss so far?
Exec One: “Biggest miss would have been that contract they offered to Lindholm. That might be the biggest hit right there, having him say no and all, haha! Actual big miss is probably drafting a few of those guys with character concerns like I mentioned earlier.”
Exec Two: “Don’t know if there’s been any big hits, but the Markstrom return looks pretty good for them right now. Bahl has a great stick and looks like a good add. Don’t know if there’s been any big misses either, but the Hanifin and Tanev trades don’t look great. Our models thought they should get a higher return for both, especially with retention.”
I thank both executives again for chatting with me and wish your clubs luck with the rest of your seasons!
