The Flames outright can’t do an offer sheet with a 1st round compensation.
The idea though is that if an offer sheet that has a compensation of a 2nd round pick is successful, you put yourself at risk of:
1. You improve the immediate roster which will have a negative impact on the Calgary Flames own 2025 1st round pick. That 2025 1st round draft pick is the single most important asset that the Calgary Flames own with how their roster is currently constructed. The goal is to make that a top-5 pick.
2. You acquire an Oilers player, which is disgusting
3. Even if it’s successful, it likely just bumps our drafting position a spot or two (best case scenario), which then also means you just gave the Oilers a high quality 2nd round pick, which is bad
You risk that just to potentially spite the Oilers? Hell no.
Conroy has said how important the draft is. You know what teams didn’t go out and do stupid offer sheets at this stage? Colorado, Tampa, Chicago, LA, Florida, St. Louis, Vegas. You know why? It’s because that’s Not how you build a winner.
A good reason why we need to be patient:
https://twitter.com/user/status/1809275051746947218
Conroy and company need more picks, not less. Targeting recent Oiler draft picks is not the right path, largely because their players aren’t good enough to justify it in the first place.