Quote:
Originally Posted by Funkhouser
In general, the league-wide media has viewed Conroy’s trades since his arrival poorly:
“Conroy, tough as his situation may be, has yet to win a trade” – Athletic
Markstrom Trade Grades: Athletic (D+, C-, B-), The Score (B+)
Hanifin Trade Grades: Athletic (C), CBS (B), The Score (B-)
Tanev Trade Grades: Athletic (D), The Score (D)
Lindholm Trade Grades: Athletic (B, B-), CBS (A-), The Score (B-)
Zadorov Trade Grades: Athletic (C, C-)
Toffoli Trade Grades: Athletic (C), Hockey Writers (C+)
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Its still early, but contrary to the media’s opinion, Conroy has shown an ability to identify undervalued assets and make strong draft picks. Of note, he has acquired:
-Sharongovich (31G scorer, can play all three forwards positions)
-Miromanov (large RD who scored at a 28 pt pace and had great defensive metrics
-Kuzmenko (offensive winger who scored at a 35G pace)
-Solid prospects: a top ranked RD prospect (Brz) who looks poised to make the NHL in 1-2 seasons, a solid LD (Grush) who looks poised to be in the NHL in the next year, and a long term D prospect (Jurmo)
-Picks that he has used to draft a trio of winger prospects (Gridin, Suniev, & Battaglia, who is ripping up the OHL to start the season), and a goalie prospect (Zarubin)
-2025 1st & 2nd, 2026 1st & 3rd
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Sharongovich, Miromanov & Kuzmenko were in the press box when they were acquired and are all positive contributors. Brz, Gridin, Suniev, Battaglia & Grushnikov all appear to have NHL upside.
Conroy is showing that he has a real eye for talent, notably affordable talent that other teams don’t value. While the Flames are currently lacking star power, we have so much depth that we can’t fit it all on the team. This bodes well for the future as I believe Conroy, once/if he can acquire some star power, will have no problem surrounding them with quality assets on a regular basis (the Carolina model?).
So while the rest of the league projects him as a GM who makes garbage trades, remember one team’s trash is another’s treasure.
Cheers to our garbage man!
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It's pretty easy to be critical with hour one reaction when revisiting trades, so to be fair, here's how I'd have rated each trade at the time it was made and currently (in order of the trade as that certainly coloured my opinion):
Toffoli Trade Grade at the time: D
This seemed horribly bad at the time and it felt like Conroy rushed it to take whatever he could get so they wouldn't have to start the season with Toffoli, who was the Flames leading scorer and certainly should have had more value in my eyes at the time... I thought it set a tone for "nice guy" Conroy being his first trade and that teams would take advantage of during his tenure, which was super important seeing that he was coming in when the team needed to rebuild. I was wrong on Sharangovich.
Current trade grade A.
Zadorov Trade Grade at the time: D
I know the player was disgruntled, but most of the vets on the team were disgruntled at this point of the season. Conroy just likely wanted to get rid of him at this point so took whatever was offered. I don't like the value, and feel he certainly could have gotten more if he waited until the deadline. I get that losing the internal and external distraction has some value, but last year was a write off anyway, so why rush that trade.
Current trade grade D.
Lindholm Trade Grade: A
And then he totally redeemed himself. What a haul. Speaks for itself for how mediocre Lindholm had been and to get all of that back. I liked that he traded within the division too as it reversed the Toffoli perspective and sent a bit of a message to the rest of the league that Conroy is purely looking for the biggest return.
Current trade grade A.
Tanev Trade Grade: C-
I felt Conroy could have gotten more if he waited another week until the trade deadline. There were more teams in on Tanev and it felt like the offers would have gone up for a playoff warrior like him. It felt like Conroy was under pressure to clear out Tanev so he could focus on Hanifin -- so he just took a combination best offer/best location for Tanev. I also didn't like the Grushnikov being the main piece at the time...
Current trade grade (Grushnikov has grown on me a bit): C+
Hanifin Trade Grades: B
This one was tough. I felt Hanifin should have returned more than an older defenceman and what will likely be a later first round pick, but with the way it looked like the agent was screwing around behind the scene, it felt better to see him go to Vegas over Tampa and meant to me that Calgary did extract more value out of the deal by going that direction. I felt like Hanifin should have returned more but this was a decent return in the context.
Current trade grade (Miromanov has grown on me): B+
Markstrom Trade Grades: B-
That Conroy got a solid defender and a first rounder after the trade deadline circus and the behind the scenes funny business was really big. I still thought New Jersey would have offered more if Conroy played chicken for another couple of days, as Markstrom was the obvious guy they wanted, but there was a big risk to that. Getting a first and a solid defender for an older goalie is huge.
Current trade grade (I bumped up as the return is solid in the context, and the risk of getting less if they held out is real... particularly with the Ulmark return): B+