Craig Conroy is cooking. The GM with a full year at the helm now, has made significant trades jettisoning assets for … well … assets.
Let’s be real, the Flames were buildig to be contenders before Gaudreau and Tkachuk left uncermoniously. Treliving tried a hail Mary with the Huberdeau signing, along with Kadri, but it failed miserably. Now we have both long-term, and a new GM committed to rebuild. (I’m sure thanks to the billionaire owner who’s finally onboard to build a contender instead of being a perrennial mid team. Oh ya, and thanks for fleecing the public purse to build an arena.)
Because the Flames were slated to go deep in the playoffs before the gutting, they had assets to trade, but only if the GM was willing to take the short-term pain for longterm gain. The number of worthy vets traded netted a HUGE haul that arguably has fast-tracked the rebuild in Calgary from 4-5 years to 2-4. Or right in time for the launch of the new arena. Conroy has managed to obtain significant assets, and if he continues drafting talent that overperforms, this team could be back on track in under three years.
Lost of course are vets like :
Lindholm
Toffoli
Hanifin
Tanev
Zadorov
And this off-season the Jacob Markström sage finally ended as he was sent for a 1st rounder and Kevin Bahl. That was the signal the team was being taken down to the studs. You can’t expect to win huge games or even make the playoffs with untested goalies, BUT, and this is a big BUT, developing a potential franchise goalie in his place is what the doctor ordered for this rebuild.
Incoming, assets that are developing or proving they can fill in the gaps left (except on D) by the traded vets including:
Sharangovich
Kuzmenko
Suniev
Bahl
Miromanov
Brzustewicz
Grushnikov
And singings in the off-season: Cooley, Mantha, Bean, and Lomberg.
The moves are huge, the team completely different from even a year. And the pain will only be worth it if drafting pans out over the long run. No more drafting ‘truculence’ or projects. Only hard talent, and with the extra picks this past draft the Flames picked up Gridin, Battaglia, Zarubin, and Misa. Can’t say now whether any turn pro, but they all project high.
Will other prospects pan out? The likes of Wolf, Cornato, Honzek, Parekh, and Brzustewicz?
This is what a rebuild looks like folks–finally. But how long it takes, and whether Conroy can orchestrate a rebuild while remaining competitive in less time than say, the Oilers lost decade, time will tell.
