Conroy named Flames General Manager

The Calgary Flames have named Craig Conroy their general manager, the team announced Tuesday. Conroy spent the last 13 years with the Flames as a special assistant to the GM and as assistant GM, a title he has held since 2013. Conroy replaces Brad Treveling, who was fired after nine seasons. Conroy spent five seasons in Calgary as a player and played 16 years in the league overall, amassing 542 points in 1,009 games. 

“Thank you to the Flames ownership group for the confidence and trust they have demonstrated by providing me with this opportunity,” Conroy said. “As to (CEO) John Bean and (President of Hockey Operations)Don Maloney for the very detailed process that has brought us to this moment. Over the course of the past 12 years, I’ve put in the time in every aspect of our hockey operations to prepare myself for today. I’m ready to accept this challenge and promise our fans that our team will do the work required to make them proud on the journey to deliver a championship.”

Conroy is taking the job with multiple items on his agenda. One of them is making Calgary a free-agent destination as many top players overlook the team when choosing where to sign. 

“I want to make it a place people want to play,” he said. “I want people who want to be part of the Flames and want to be here, not just someone coming here to get the money. That doesn’t interest me at all. I want them to come to be part of doing something special here. I talk to agents, and we’re on a lot of players’ no-trade lists. I want to make it where we’re not on the no-trade lists, and that’s by bringing a culture of winning and fun. Players talk, and if you build that here, they’ll come. That starts this year, moving forward.”

According to Conroy, one of the many things the team will be addressing is their core. He wants to get younger and inject some youth in the lineup. That will most likely include top goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf and former 13th overall pick Matthew Coronato, each having played one game for the team last season (a 3-1 in the season finally).

“I think we’re going to change the core a little bit and add youth to the lineup,” he told reporters. Another task for Conroy is finding a new head coach. The team parted ways with Darryl Sutter in April after much discourse between him and the players. Under Treveling, the team went through five coaches in nine seasons. Conroy will definitely be looking for more sustainability behind the bench to begin his tenure. He won’t have much cap space to work with though, as Cap Friendly projects them to have just $1.25 million. Conroy definitely impressed the Flames management. According to Maloney, the team had 34 candidates. The players will certainly embrace Conroy. 

“[Conroy] has put in a lot of work,” forward Tyler Toffoli said. “He played a lot of games, and the past bunch of years he’s been working and doing all the other stuff, seeing all the other side of the spectrum of the management side. I think he’s deserved it and I think everybody is excited for him.”