[News] Conroy Press Conference: UFAs could not be re-signed

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by bdubbs

Your spin was overly negative verbiage from this impartial outside perspective. Why describe it as anything but what Conroy actually said instead of colouring it with your own interpretation?

I didn't think it was negative at all. There's nothing negative about it.

[BrennyBaller]

Originally Posted by wpgflamesfan

Why were we trying to sign these guys last week? What is the plan here? Is there even a plan?

Ever since his introductory press conference he has said he won't let players leave for nothing, and Kylington excluded, it looks like that is not going to happen. Sounds like sticking to a plan to me.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by wpgflamesfan

Why were we trying to sign these guys last week? What is the plan here? Is there even a plan?

Because Hanifin and Tanev are really good players. Hanifin is in his prime. Tanev will age but he's a warrior and great for the room.

They are the devil you know vs the devil you don't. They are known quantities. Lindholm I am fine with walking, he looks lost out there.

A strong D core is what you want to build around. We are fine either way. I'm excited for new things.

[devo22]

nothing wrong with what he said at all. He's hardly going to say "I couldn't wait to trade their asses and I'm glad they're gone" ... I'm sure they did their due diligence regarding re-signing those players, and that's alright. Once they saw it made no financial sense, they moved them for futures. All how it should be and I don't know why anyone would be mad at this.

[blankall]

It seems like at least some of the UFAs wanted to sign here....just for a huge amount of money. Toffoli and Lindholm both clearly overplayed their hands. The organization made shrewd decisions in trading them.

I am eating my words a bit, as a year ago I thought Lindholm was pretty great, and I was advocating re-signing him. Looking back, that would have been a massive mistake.

Hanifin, on the other hand, was likely always destined to leave. He clearly wanted out of Canada.

[Redrum]

Originally Posted by BrennyBaller

Fans "oMg tHiS OrG iS SO ComMiTTeD tO bEinG MiD ThEy ReALly trIed to SigN thEse GuyS And PlayerS FoRceD ThEiR HANDs"

This the only post like that on here.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Redrum

This the only post like that on here.

And about 2000 over the last two weeks.

[calumniate]

Any use of the word process? No? OK good!

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Really? When Conroy said "we are waiting to see what he wants to do and to make sure he's happy". Sounded exactly like what I described. There was more to it as well. Definitely didn't think I was reading between the lines there and saying he's not out of the woods.

Sounded exactly like they don't even know if he wants to keep playing hockey.

Maybe I don’t know what you mean by “not out of the woods” because that implies, to me, that he’s still struggling or is considering giving up hockey altogether, when it seems like Conroy just genuinely hasn’t really had the conversation yet and is just letting him play hockey.

[NewFan]

I think Conroy and the team did a good job even the new guys are not so good. But if the new guys become better than average player than I will say Conroy did great job!

[traptor]

I dont get why some of you get so butt hurt about people calling it out like they see it.

Conroy, Maloney and all the media have constitently said that they've tried to re-sign most of these guys. Some harder then others. They ended up moving all of them except Backlund but that doesn't mean if the flames had their choice they wouldn't still be here. Every source has literally said that they tried to keep most of them.

This worries some people that they were willing to commit to an older core that hasn't proven anything.

Not sure why that opinion irritates some of you so much.

[Zary's-Mustache]

So impressed with the way Conroy speaks and explains everything.

[Zary's-Mustache]

Originally Posted by BrennyBaller

Conroy says he won't let players walk for free, commits to getting younger early on, calls young players up and gives them prominent roles, trades all of the UFAs in question.

Fans "oMg tHiS OrG iS SO ComMiTTeD tO bEinG MiD ThEy ReALly trIed to SigN thEse GuyS And PlayerS FoRceD ThEiR HANDs"

It's called due diligence. You don't just commit to not signing guys and never speak contract. That gets you an even worse reputation around the league.

Yeah Conroy definitely being nice when he says "tried to sign them".

What he means is we offered what we thought was fair market value and they were out of whack with their demand.

In other words on his own terms.

[wpgflamesfan]

Originally Posted by traptor

I dont get why some of you get so butt hurt about people calling it out like they see it.

Conroy, Maloney and all the media have constitently said that they've tried to re-sign most of these guys. Some harder then others. They ended up moving all of them except Backlund but that doesn't mean if the flames had their choice they wouldn't still be here. Every source has literally said that they tried to keep most of them.

This worries some people that they were willing to commit to an older core that hasn't proven anything.

Not sure why that opinion irritates some of you so much.

I don't have any issues with the results of the trades and actually think Conroy did a great job with all of them. But yeah, given Craig's comments and echoing the above, I can't help think that in this case the organization succeeded in spite of it self rather than because of it self (i.e. a broken clock is right twice a day).

Yeah I get that Hanifin, Tanev and Lindholm are all really good players, who are "known quantities" and could be "good for the room" but that fact of the matter is that barring some miracle run, it's painfully obvious that this team isn't ready to compete and won't be while these guys are still in their respective primes. Trying to resign these guys as late as last week reeks of an organization that being managed to not lose rather than one that's being managed to win which in my opinion is exactly how we stay in that mushy middle we seem to love as a fanbase.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Only concerning part was talking about using the 1st rd picks to make trades.

This team is absolutely not in a position to trade them, unless its for a #1D or #1C under 23.

He did say he found out how hard it is to get them, so hopefully he doesn't give them away for garbage like Travis Hamonic.

[BowRiverBruinsRule]

It's hard to believe he has been GM for less than a year. I like what he has done. Presser was awesome. I am on board. Go Flames.

[Dion]

[DoubleK]

Great job, Craig.

[Ferarri]

When he says he tried (and obviously didn’t achieve the result) was this a money and term issue or not wanting to play in Calgary period?

[Calgary4LIfe]

I found it interesting that when asked about the re-signing/trading, and if it was a response to Gaudreau walking, Conroy responded with: "It wasn't just Gaudreau. It was Brodie, it was Giordano."


Good to know that even with some future expansion probably coming, that Conroy will probably be a bit more proactive next time around, and that he probably won't look at "Lose Brodie but signed Tanev" as the compensation. Should have dealt Brodie, and signed Tanev (or made room and had them both even). That's always been my personal view, so it is great to hear that losing these guys wasn't insignificant, and that there could have been something done to either keep them or find value for them somewhere (though Giordano would have been difficult, as you either had to trade Kylington or risk losing him as well). Regardless of HOW it would have looked like, it is nice just to know that the GM realizes that this team simply can't lose assets for free in this market. I am sure that would change when this team is actually going for a cup run.


I have liked Conroy's body of work. He doesn't appear to be really all that interested in a complete tear-down to the studs. I would assume that next season, Calgary is likely to finish in the bottom 5 or so, but after that it all depends on how the goaltending is looking. That's a lot of decent defensive prospects to join the existing prospects, plus the existing defencemen. All that's missing is some high-calibre offensive forwards (especially a centre or two), and hopefully Calgary finds those in the upcoming drafts. I am really liking the overall body of work that Conroy has been doing.


I also love how he is going to go scouting himself. He has found players on his own before, so having another set of eyes out there can only help.