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When the Calgary Flames made their first selection of the 2024 NHL Draft, a noteworthy face will be absent from their draft table: Jarome Iginla.
Flames general manager Craig Conroy sat down with Ryan Pinder and Dean &#8220;Boomer&#8217; Molberg of the Barn Burner podcast recently for a half-hour chat in advance of the draft. Among the tidbits that Conroy dropped in the chat was that Iginla, wearing the dual hats of Flames special advisor to the GM and proud father of top prospect Tij Iginla, will not be sitting with the club for the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hkAdbgSg7IY?si=-tIbnd3wOe30TTFU" width="560"></iframe>
Here&#8217;s the exchange from the interview:
<blockquote>Boomer: What are his plans for draft night? Is he at the table? Is he with Tij?
Conroy: No, I told him, I said &#8216;You have to be with Tij.&#8217; Because I think there&#8217;s things that the families do after they get drafted. There&#8217;s stuff that goes on. I don&#8217;t know what that is. [Flames vice-president of communications] Peter Hanlon would be able to tell you better. But I think they&#8217;re pretty busy doing things and the families are there. You only get so many chances to do that. Because Jarome&#8217;s like &#8216;Do you want me to start out&#8230;&#8217; I&#8217;m like, &#8216;No, you have to be with your son!&#8217;</blockquote>
Conroy touched on a lot of different topics during the lengthy chat.
Among them? Well, he was asked about how the Jacob Markstrom trade came together and how close the return was to what was rumoured prior to the trade deadline. He took the time to clarify something: Markstrom was never asked to waive his no-move clause.
<blockquote>&#8220;I never went to Markstrom and said &#8216;Will you sign off on a trade?&#8217; There was never a trade done. And that&#8217;s where people kind of&#8230; there were rumours out there, but there was never a deal where I went to him and said &#8216;Okay, will you sign off on it?&#8217; It didn&#8217;t get to that point.&#8221;</blockquote>
Discussing the challenging season for 2023 first-round pick Samuel Honzek, Conroy was asked if it had been decided whether he should play the 2024-25 season with the American Hockey League&#8217;s Calgary Wranglers or return to the Western Hockey League&#8217;s Vancouver Giants as an overage player (and when that decision would have to be made).
<blockquote>&#8220;We want to see him&#8230; Just the way he plays, probably the American League is the wya to go, but I don&#8217;t want to pigeon-hole that either. So we&#8217;re open to kind of wait and see, see how it goes. He&#8217;s going to have to have a big summer. One thing I like: him and Pospisil are training over at home together, and Pospisil, I think he finished third in camp last year in testing. He was in great shape. So I think him working out with him over there, they&#8217;re going to push each other, which is great because he&#8217;s is a great athlete, Honzek, he moves well for a big man.&#8221;</blockquote>
Finally, with the NHL&#8217;s salary cap jumping up to $88 million for the upcoming season, the Flames have a lot of cap flexibility. Conroy responded to a question about how he would approach things with a pretty lengthy answer.
<blockquote>&#8220;It&#8217;s nice. I think the ability to do it, but again, we have to be smart. We have to know where we are. I don&#8217;t feel&#8230; Like, <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/daily-faceoffs-frank-seravalli-dove-deep-with-calgary-flames-gm-craig-conroy-at-the-gm-meetings">when I told Frank Seravalli after at the GM meetings</a>, &#8216;we&#8217;re going to look to do something,&#8217; I guess I should&#8217;ve been more clear and said I don&#8217;t think seven year deals for the Calgary Flames make sense right now, but shorter term deals at the dollars, we have some more money, guys that we think can come and help build the culture. And it&#8217;s all about building the culture for the young guys. Again, we have young players and we&#8217;re going to see the young players get a chance, but you want to make sure they are ready for that chance and you don&#8217;t want it to hurt them in the long run. I know they all want to be there today, so I totally get that, but it&#8217;s a matter of getting in when Zary was ready, when Pospisil was ready. You just don&#8217;t want to force them in and have it go the wrong way. I do think there&#8217;s going to be some opportunity, and I do think with the cap going up you can also kind of weaponize that money. Maybe not now, maybe later.. [Boomer: When teams are tight.] When teams are tight. Because I know the cap&#8217;s going up, but there&#8217;s still going to be some tight teams out there that need some relief, and if we&#8217;re there to add some more draft capital or get a player that we like, that&#8217;s important to us, too.&#8221;</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkAdbgSg7IY&amp;t=1635s">Head over to the FlamesNation YouTube channel to catch the full interview</a>! (And don&#8217;t forget to comment, like and subscribe so you don&#8217;t miss more great content like the Conroy interview!)
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This article is brought to you by bet365.

When the Calgary Flames made their first selection of the 2024 NHL Draft, a noteworthy face will be absent from their draft table: Jarome Iginla.

Flames general manager Craig Conroy sat down with Ryan Pinder and Dean "Boomer' Molberg of the Barn Burner podcast recently for a half-hour chat in advance of the draft. Among the tidbits that Conroy dropped in the chat was that Iginla, wearing the dual hats of Flames special advisor to the GM and proud father of top prospect Tij Iginla, will not be sitting with the club for the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hkAdbgSg7IY?si=-tIbnd3wOe30TTFU" width="560"></iframe>

Here's the exchange from the interview:
<blockquote>Boomer: What are his plans for draft night? Is he at the table? Is he with Tij?

Conroy: No, I told him, I said 'You have to be with Tij.' Because I think there's things that the families do after they get drafted. There's stuff that goes on. I don't know what that is. [Flames vice-president of communications] Peter Hanlon would be able to tell you better. But I think they're pretty busy doing things and the families are there. You only get so many chances to do that. Because Jarome's like 'Do you want me to start out...' I'm like, 'No, you have to be with your son!'</blockquote>
Conroy touched on a lot of different topics during the lengthy chat.

Among them? Well, he was asked about how the Jacob Markstrom trade came together and how close the return was to what was rumoured prior to the trade deadline. He took the time to clarify something: Markstrom was never asked to waive his no-move clause.
<blockquote>"I never went to Markstrom and said 'Will you sign off on a trade?' There was never a trade done. And that's where people kind of... there were rumours out there, but there was never a deal where I went to him and said 'Okay, will you sign off on it?' It didn't get to that point."</blockquote>
Discussing the challenging season for 2023 first-round pick Samuel Honzek, Conroy was asked if it had been decided whether he should play the 2024-25 season with the American Hockey League's Calgary Wranglers or return to the Western Hockey League's Vancouver Giants as an overage player (and when that decision would have to be made).
<blockquote>"We want to see him... Just the way he plays, probably the American League is the wya to go, but I don't want to pigeon-hole that either. So we're open to kind of wait and see, see how it goes. He's going to have to have a big summer. One thing I like: him and Pospisil are training over at home together, and Pospisil, I think he finished third in camp last year in testing. He was in great shape. So I think him working out with him over there, they're going to push each other, which is great because he's is a great athlete, Honzek, he moves well for a big man."</blockquote>
Finally, with the NHL's salary cap jumping up to $88 million for the upcoming season, the Flames have a lot of cap flexibility. Conroy responded to a question about how he would approach things with a pretty lengthy answer.
<blockquote>"It's nice. I think the ability to do it, but again, we have to be smart. We have to know where we are. I don't feel... Like, <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/daily-faceoffs-frank-seravalli-dove-deep-with-calgary-flames-gm-craig-conroy-at-the-gm-meetings">when I told Frank Seravalli after at the GM meetings</a>, 'we're going to look to do something,' I guess I should've been more clear and said I don't think seven year deals for the Calgary Flames make sense right now, but shorter term deals at the dollars, we have some more money, guys that we think can come and help build the culture. And it's all about building the culture for the young guys. Again, we have young players and we're going to see the young players get a chance, but you want to make sure they are ready for that chance and you don't want it to hurt them in the long run. I know they all want to be there today, so I totally get that, but it's a matter of getting in when Zary was ready, when Pospisil was ready. You just don't want to force them in and have it go the wrong way. I do think there's going to be some opportunity, and I do think with the cap going up you can also kind of weaponize that money. Maybe not now, maybe later.. [Boomer: When teams are tight.] When teams are tight. Because I know the cap's going up, but there's still going to be some tight teams out there that need some relief, and if we're there to add some more draft capital or get a player that we like, that's important to us, too."</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkAdbgSg7IY&amp;t=1635s">Head over to the FlamesNation YouTube channel to catch the full interview</a>! (And don't forget to comment, like and subscribe so you don't miss more great content like the Conroy interview!)
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