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Pascall wasn't there. It was hosted by Rob Kerr. Conroy, Treliving, and Burke spoke.

Ken King got up at the beginning and did his usual, thanks for supporting us, you're going to love the new building, but don't ask any questions about it, speech to start, to nip that in the bud. After that, he left. It sounded like he was headed to the Dome to catch the Hitmen game.


Before the questions, they each gave a brief rundown of things in their areas.

Conroy talked about Adirondack. He said they're playing hard, fighting for a playoff spot. They're a young team, mostly first and second year pros, and they've lost a lot of players either due to their own injuries (like Culkin and Ortio), or for call-ups to Calgary. He had good things to say about Wolf, Reinhart, and Agostino. He also spoke glowingly about Garnet Hathaway.

On Hathaway, Conroy talked about signing him last year, and how they were offering just an AHL contract. His agent told Conroy that he had a few NHL contract offers, but Burke told Conroy he didn't believe the agent had any NHL offers, and he eventually accepted the AHL deal they were offering. Treliving also said that he was trying to sign Hathaway to an AHL deal in Phoenix, and also was given the "other NHL offers" story by the agent. He said that Hathaway called him personally to apologize after he signed with the Flames. Treliving said that once he was hired by Calgary, Hathaway was the first person he called and said since Hathaway wouldn't join him in Phoenix, he had to join Hathaway with the Flames.

They also talked about Hathaway wanting to prove that he can play truculent hockey, and told them he can fight. They were surprised because he went to an Ivy League school, which aren't known for their violent styles of play. When he first went to the AHL, he picked a couple of fights with the toughest guys on the other teams, and got pretty badly beaten, but they said he's gotten better at picking his fights.

I expect we'll hear about Hathaway getting an NHL deal for next season.


Conroy also talked about Bennett. He doesn't think he's ready to be into games quite yet. He said that they sat together at the game on Saturday and Conroy would quiz Sam on what to do in certain situations. One time, he asked what to do if you lose a draw in your own zone, and Sam said he'd attack the defence, but Conroy told him to drop back and cover his man and let the winger take care of the defence. On another play, the Oilers were cycling in the Flames' zone and Conroy asked Sam what he'd do if he was Monahan, and Sam said to swarm the puck carrier. Conroy said "I don't know what they do in Kingston, but in Calgary, we don't swarm."

They also said that Sam is excited to be back in Calgary, and if they asked him to, he'd break through the wall to get to play. They don't want to rush him in if he's not ready. One thing they don't want to do is put him in a couple of games, have him play badly, then spend all summer thinking about that.

Conroy also talked about him needing to rein in his energy. He talked about going to see him play in Kingston, and Sam was hitting everything that moved. After the game, Conroy told him it was okay to occasionally not hit everyone on the ice, and Sam said he wanted to show them that his shoulder was 100%.


I don't remember all of Treliving's remarks, but it included high praise for Hartley. He said that often people expect a new GM to bring in "his guy", but Treliving saw no value in that. He said that usually you've crossed paths with guys over the years working in hockey, but until he was hired by the Flames, he had never said a word to Hartley. Prior to training camp, Burke warned him that he was about to see the most intense training camp that he had ever seen, and it certainly was. It didn't take long for Treliving to know that Hartley was the man he wanted coaching his team, so he was glad to get the extension done.


Treliving also talked a bit about Gaudreau. He said that they fully expected him to spend most of the year in Adirondack just getting used to the pace of the game. When Hartley sat him for that game in Columbus, they were preparing for the next step of sending him down. Then, he got into the game in Winnipeg and got two points, and hasn't slowed down since.


Treliving also spoke briefly about the trade deadline. Nothing really new about the Glencross or Baertschi trades. The draft picks are going to be valuable assets. He repeated that the pick from Vancouver was "by far" the best offer for Sven. He also mentioned that they had a deal for a defenceman in the works, but the other GM either ran out of time or backed out at the last minute. Getting Schlemko on waivers helped reduce the urgency of getting another d-man, and he wasn't willing to pay the price of a first round pick or a young prospect to get a d-man.


In Burke's opening remarks, he said that the Flames' success this year is because of four men: Treliving, Hartley, Giordano, and Feaster. He said that too often teams fire a coach or GM and pretend that they never worked there (he made a joke that it's nearly impossible to get anyone in Vancouver or Toronto to even acknowledge he was ever employed by either team), so he gave credit to Feaster for bringing in Hartley and a lot of other guys on the team.


Burke also talked about the importance of the draft and the value of the picks Treliving got at the deadline. He said he doesn't think the odds are very good of being able to trade up in the first round. He said teams are afraid that Treliving is being guided by Burke who pulled off two of the biggest trade floor deals, getting the Sedins in 1999, and Pronger in 1994.



This post is getting kind of long, so I'll post some of the Q&A in another post...