Players can look like rubbish under the wrong coach/system. With seeing his NHL career potentially ending, Rooney is probably a player that took this off-season extremely seriously. I guess we will see how he looks. I wouldn't write him off based on last year's results as, well, lots of players looked off last year after all. I don't think he makes it, but I am sure that we will see an improved Rooney at training camp anyway.
One thing that Conroy also has at his disposal is the waiver wire. Right now, Conroy is holding that door into the NHL wide open for some young players to step through. I don't think for a second that Conroy is going to be standing there and whispering encouraging words if a few players are hesitating. He will close that door and look at other team's PTOs as well as players that hit the waiver wire as teams try and sneak players through. I am confident that enough young players end up filling the roster, but if not, perhaps this is the year that the Flames claim a Paul Byron instead of losing one.
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