[Rumour] Dreger: Bowen Byram trade talks heating up. Calgary one of many teams interested

[bluejays]

To me it's also apparent that Conroy is still learning. You know he'll have to be more cutthroat down the road should a similar situation arise. I think he's shown how astute he is and whatever lesson learned here is probably not lost on him. After initially being pissed that it slipped away, I'm fine with most of whatever happens now. After Andersson I just hope more veteran dominoes fall.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by TOfan

This also raised an eyebrow for me. What was the contract offer the Kings had for Andersson? If it was anywhere near what he’s asking for, I’d have to say that is/was a ballsy decision.

His fellow countrymen John Klingberg would have probably advised him to take the deal.

I have never heard of an actual contract offer from LA, just a trade offer to the Flames. My intel is he has not actually spoken to any teams.

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

In a different discussion someone mentioned Kane and Toews and I fought up the fact that when 21 year old Kane and 22 year old Toews won the cup, they had a ton of good mid 20s guys to support them - Keith, Seabrook, Sharp, Ladd, Versteeg, Brouwer, Byfuglien (plus some vets like Hossa and Campbell).

Yeah - there's no "right pathway" to build a team. Every team typically has the same pieces - a franchise centre, a capable goalie, an anchor defenseman, depth through the line up, good supporting pieces, game breaking winners, two-way top-9 forwards etc - but how you acquire those pieces is variable.

Beyond noting that you have to draft the most important pieces and they're most likely to be found at the top of the draft, there isn't much more that unites championship teams.

The best way forward isn't to to follow some pre-determined path, but to play the cards you're given. And I'm comfortable with the way Conroy is playing those cards. He's acquired a lot of interesting pieces through the past couple of drafts. And he's positioning the team to have at least one disastrous season over the next few years, which should allow them to acquire the franchise centre and/or game breaking winger they need.

Anyone who looks at this roster and thinks it's good needs to think it through again. This is a bad team on paper, it's going to get worse, and they over achieved last year. If this team unachieved their quality by even half as much as they overachieved last year, they're a lottery team.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by bluejays

To me it's also apparent that Conroy is still learning. You know he'll have to be more cutthroat down the road should a similar situation arise. I think he's shown how astute he is and whatever lesson learned here is probably not lost on him. After initially being pissed that it slipped away, I'm fine with most of whatever happens now. After Andersson I just hope more veteran dominoes fall.

Look at what StL did with leddy. Had sj on ntc list. So they waived him to get around the ntc. Ruthless but best for the team.

Believe harder for us to do. We already have problems attracting players and if you do that, are players going to be willing to come here? Very much a balance as players can’t be treated like cattle, but at same time, can’t let the inmates run the asylum.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

Yeah - there's no "right pathway" to build a team. Every team typically has the same pieces - a franchise centre, a capable goalie, an anchor defenseman, depth through the line up, good supporting pieces, game breaking winners, two-way top-9 forwards etc - but how you acquire those pieces is variable.

Beyond noting that you have to draft the most important pieces and they're most likely to be found at the top of the draft, there isn't much more that unites championship teams.

The best way forward isn't to to follow some pre-determined path, but to play the cards you're given. And I'm comfortable with the way Conroy is playing those cards. He's acquired a lot of interesting pieces through the past couple of drafts. And he's positioning the team to have at least one disastrous season over the next few years, which should allow them to acquire the franchise centre and/or game breaking winger they need.

Anyone who looks at this roster and thinks it's good needs to think it through again. This is a bad team on paper, it's going to get worse, and they over achieved last year. If this team unachieved their quality by even half as much as they overachieved last year, they're a lottery team.

It was a bad team on paper last year and finished with 96 points. 96 points isn't some miracle fluke. You don't get there on good will. This team will be improved from last season. Still doesn't look good on paper but they'll work their tails off and that'll be the difference. Oh and Parekh , that's going to be a real eye opener for the conservative fan.

[868904]

Connie really needs to learn to set a deadline on these things. He should have said “Andersson is getting traded before the draft, give me your best offer”. At that point teams have to make the decision how badly they want the player and where and how they spend their assets. Now after free agency, most teams have already addressed their needs.

He needs to be way more proactive and create the market. Dont let the player control the situation. If he won’t sign an Extension? Fine, then maximize the value as a rental but he has to create the market and a bidding war. He has one more chance now to do that before the season starts, but the market won’t be as good as before the draft.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I have never heard of an actual contract offer from LA, just a trade offer to the Flames. My intel is he has not actually spoken to any teams.

Conroy specifically said he has not given permission to any team to speak with Andersson. Presumably LA made an offer contingent on being able to talk to Andersson and at least gauge the likelihood of an extension and his camp said they’d only talk to Vegas. Did LA communicate the broad strokes of a contract through Conroy which made its way to Andersson. I’d imagine so.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by 868904

Connie really needs to learn to set a deadline on these things. He should have said “Andersson is getting traded before the draft, give me your best offer”. At that point teams have to make the decision how badly they want the player and where and how they spend their assets. Now after free agency, most teams have already addressed their needs.

He needs to be way more proactive and create the market. Dont let the player control the situation. If he won’t sign an Extension? Fine, then maximize the value as a rental but he has to create the market and a bidding war. He has one more chance now to do that before the season starts, but the market won’t be as good as before the draft.

Players with NTC's always have a level of control over these situations. I'm not too worried as I think Andersson will still fetch a very good return at the trade deadline even as a pure rental. Conroy doesn't have to settle for anything between now and the deadline IMO.

[Paulie Walnuts]

You can’t bring Andersson back to start the year for many reasons.

Those annoying quotes about our management seem to be coming true about hanging in to players.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by 868904

Connie really needs to learn to set a deadline on these things. He should have said “Andersson is getting traded before the draft, give me your best offer”. At that point teams have to make the decision how badly they want the player and where and how they spend their assets. Now after free agency, most teams have already addressed their needs.

He needs to be way more proactive and create the market. Dont let the player control the situation. If he won’t sign an Extension? Fine, then maximize the value as a rental but he has to create the market and a bidding war. He has one more chance now to do that before the season starts, but the market won’t be as good as before the draft.

There are no absolutes in life. If you publicly set a deadline and the offers are not acceptable, then what do you do? Take a bad deal out of principle? Or publicly go back on your word?

Engaging in such absolutes is a lose lose.

[Sylvanfan]

All the people moaning about Andersson not being traded now likely lament that he was sold too early when they see what teams are paying at the deadline.

I get the idea of removing any potential distractions before the season from the team. But its not like this is Cale Makar here. It's a guy who likely plays on a second pairing for the team trading for him.

[howard_the_duck]

Because Ras is a huge domino for the overall direction of the team, waiting until the deadline is worse case scenario from an asset management POV in my opinion.

Kicking the decision to the deadline may maximize Ras’s value, but it’d be 4+ months of him on the team (and the other vets) which hurts our draft position, not to mention it reduces the chances of making other moves due to the complexity of this deal.

Moving Ras now improves the odds of a good draft pick and also paves the way to CC making other moves such as Kadri and Coleman.

The number one asset to manage in all of this is the upcoming draft spot, IMO. Eyes on the prize. I think Pinder said it best, even if the Ras deal only nets you 90% of what you want, take the deal now and run because it solidifies the direction for the next season or so.

[dissentowner]

I think people thinking moving Ras tanks us are going to be surprised at how much the team gets a boost from Parekh. I don't see this as a lottery team unless something happens with Wolf.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Dienasty

Go read the trade deadline thread. There were plenty of reasons stated. Now one of the reasons is coming to fruition see Royale post. On top of that this reason isn't revisionist as we saw it play out the year prior with Hanafin, and before that with Jarome (although if anyone earned the right to choose his spot it was him).

Two playoff runs on an inexpensive contract is much greater than 1. Overall happy with Conroy but holding Andersson was a mistake.

Conroy has been a elite drafter (which is the most important trait right now.)
He as been an average to below average trader
He has been a good ufa signer (which means basically stay out of that market)

Overall happy with him, but holding onto Andersson out of some sort of loyalty to the veterans was a mistake. His loyalty should be to Wolf, Parekh, Coronato and Zary.

That's pretty easy with 20/20 hindsight.


There was no burning market for Ras last year at TDL....otherwise he may well have been moved. Conroy hasn't proven himself to be stupid yet. If there had been a decent (enough) offer, it seems rather likely that he would have taken it.

[Bingo]

^ I don't see it on paper.

But then I spent last summer talking about the roster headed towards a wipe out offensively only to have that a) happen and b) almost not matter with team defense and out working the opposition.

But without Andersson's 26 minutes a night I don't see it again this summer.

Parekh will make their powerplay better, but that's only a 3-4 goal difference.

The gap without Andersson accounts for way more than that.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I think people thinking moving Ras tanks us are going to be surprised at how much the team gets a boost from Parekh. I don't see this as a lottery team unless something happens with Wolf.

Subtracting Ras in a futures deal makes the team worse. Parekh will definitely be a boost, but remains to be seen what impact he’ll have immediately.

I think the real chance moving Ras now is the other potential moves that follow. Ras is a big presence in that room and I suspect more pieces to fall.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Bingo

^ I don't see it on paper.

But then I spent last summer talking about the roster headed towards a wipe out offensively only to have that a) happen and b) almost not matter with team defense and out working the opposition.

But without Andersson's 26 minutes a night I don't see it again this summer.

Parekh will make their powerplay better, but that's only a 3-4 goal difference.

The gap without Andersson accounts for way more than that.

Andersson wasn't exactly a defensive juggernaut last year.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by taxbuster

That's pretty easy with 20/20 hindsight.

There was no burning market for Ras last year at TDL....otherwise he may well have been moved. Conroy hasn't proven himself to be stupid yet. If there had been a decent (enough) offer, it seems rather likely that he would have taken it.

I mean the trades at the deadline kind of spoke otherwise. I truly don’t think they even entertained moving him because of where the team was. The original plan might have been try and maximize value at the deadline instead of trading him in the offseason but then they pivoted because the team was playing better than expected and here we are.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Royle9

I hate to say it but I feel like the false hope last year and holding onto Andersson for the stretch run will come back to haunt us.

I do know that it’s not lost on the group and there are players wondering what their own situation looks like should Andersson be moved. Which is why it’s advantageous from CGY perspective to get this handled ASAP.

Sorry guys, TLDR: it’s complicated now.

That's always the thing - action or inaction has consequences. Chasing that short term goal of sneaking into the playoffs has dropped the value of Andersson, and it dropped the value of their own 2025 1st round pick (potentially to the degree of 22 draft spots)

If we look at the top-end competing teams, the majority of them have already spent their prime rental-asset, most of which were moved at the 2025 trade deadline.

Panthers -> Blackhawks owns their pick
Senators -> Forfeitting their pick
Golden Knights -> Flames own their pick
Hurricanes -> Rangers owns their pick (Top-10 protected)
Avalanche -> Islanders own their pick
Stars -> Hurricanes own their pick (Top-10 protected)
Oilers -> Sharks own their pick (Top-12 protected)
Lightning -> Kraken own their their pick (Top-10 protected)
Maple Leafs -> Bruins own their pick

The Flames/Conroy really did make a significant investment in chasing that playoff experience in 2024/2025, and they didn't get it. I disagree with chasing in it in the first place, because I don't think that type of experience is all that important (if piling up round 1 losses was actually important to developing a winning culture, the Flames would have a winning culture). We'll see if it works out for the Flames in that culture department.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Andersson wasn't exactly a defensive juggernaut last year.

If we start dealing guys away I can’t see the team being as enthusiastic playing the way we did. Difficult style to play and keep up.

If the plan is to be competitive when SP opens they need to make these decisions quicker.