[traptor]

The direction

But winning hockey games has been a constant part of general manager Craig Conroy’s messaging since he took over as GM from Brad Treliving 17 months ago. Not everybody loved the tone and tenor of Conroy’s approach to rebuilding the team following the departure of half a dozen longtime players a year ago.
On the contrary, some — maybe even a lot — of people on social media believe in a scorched-earth tack when it comes to reviving a flagging franchise. But that’s not in Conroy’s DNA, nor has it ever been.

Philosophically, Conroy has stuck to his own pesky insistence that the best way to turn the ship around is to try and win every night, rather than gently steering the organization to the bottom of the standings in the hopes that a future No. 1 overall draft choice leads the turnaround.

This isn’t always a popular view, but it is how the team intends to operate going forward, he said in an interview at Scotiabank Saddledome.

“You cannot tell people that it’s OK to lose and then later say, let’s try to win now. How do you do that?” said Conroy. “Where in the brain does it say that can be done? If you have a culture where you’re just OK with losing, that doesn’t breed winning. I know we’re going to lose games, but the attitude has to always be: ‘We’re here to win. This is our job.’

But what would constitute a successful season for the Flames? Would it require making the playoffs?

“I mean, playoffs are always the goal,” answered Conroy. “But mostly, I want to see growth in our young players and to see our older guys take a step too. It’s to see overall growth — and then build that culture. What do we want the Calgary Flames to be? That first game was a great first step. We want people who want to be in Calgary, who want to buy in and win here. Because it’s a great city.”