[FlamesAddiction]

The upside of trading a player before the season is that the field hasn't been narrowed down yet. At the trade deadline,, you are almost exclusively trading with only a handful of buyers who already know where they stand. By doing a trade before the season starts, or at least early into it, some overly optimistic pretenders might want to add and you end up with better picks.

For example, see San Jose trading Karlsson to Pittsburgh in August while Pittsburgh still fancied themselves as a contender. What Pittsburgh probably thought was going to be a pretty low 1st rounder ended up being the 14th OA. Had San Jose waited until the trade deadline instead, they never would have received a pick that high. Pittsburgh also made the same mistake when they traded their 1st to Toronto for Kapanen in the offseason. The 1st ended up being 15th OA that year. There was also the original Karlsson trade to SJ that happened before the season started that got the Sens a 3rd OA pick. No way that trade happens if you wait until the deadline.

It probably doesn't matter with Mangiapane at this point. We'd be selling low and even with full retention, I doubt we'd get a 1st rounder. It would probably be better to see if he can increase his value. So maybe a moot point in this case, but I don't think waiting until the trade deadline to see is always a good idea. If Conroy is anticipating being a seller again next season, he should get started in the summer. The Flames have always had trouble being honest with themselves in that respect though.