Quote:
Originally Posted by ComixZone
I'm not actually frustrated in any way.
I'm intrigued to see how Conroy gets himself out of this boondongle. My biggest point of criticism of the organization has always been the reactive nature of their management.
I really want to see some proactive execution. The fact that the Flames have a more clear understanding of Andersson's contract situation shows Conroy has done better than he did with Hanifin in my eyes. He now just needs to turn that into action.
As Royle notes, this happening again with Andersson does show the Flames need to be more serious with trade interest on veterans that don't necessarily fit the window we're targeting (like Coleman now, like Andersson this past season).
Get out ahead of stuff and be aggressive, that's what I'm hoping we see from Conroy during his 3rd year at the helm.
If I were to provide a weak analogy of Conroy's time as GM:
Year 1: Played on his heels. He intherited a miss, and everything was reactionary.
Year 2: Flat footed. He did pretty much nothing of consequence. Even the Farabee/Frost was a fairly stationary move (young player, cap dump, and future out - underperforming mid-20s players in and they underperform). We definitely heard he wanted it to be a more stable year, and it was that - and the results spoke to that. Mushy middle finish, mushy middle draft position - not the best outcome by his own account.
Year 3: I'm hoping he's on his toes and dictating the play a lot more.
It's cool to watch Conroy's performance as a GM, because there's so much goodwill built up with the man himself in this city that we're all rooting for him. We as a fanbase and city love this guy. I'm hoping we see a more aggressive, focused Conroy here in year 3.
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And I think it very possible that teams on the wrong side of this new balance will have to develop GMs that think way outside the box.
Could mean trading assets sooner as some have suggested.
Could mean internal valuations and assessments that are complexly dispassionate and move players even if they fit the window (offer too good to pass up).
But with NTCs affecting the ability to move players, bring in players, sign players, and trade for players ... the GM job in Calgary and probably 6 other markets has become a much more difficult position than in the other 25 markets.
They likely can't afford to treat players like family and should be up front with that with all their assets.
The Flames could be entering a very real two tiered era where they are heavily disadvantaged (with the other 6 teams). You can stem that if you get a generational player, but the compete every year model may need to go the way of the Do Do bird.
To me that doesn't mean scorched Earth as I think that creates problems and holes that can be tough to get out of. But asset management needs to be king going forward.