Calgary Flames expected to name Craig Conroy general manager

The Calgary Flames are expected to name Craig Conroy the club’s ninth general manager in franchise history, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Sunday.

And according to Dreger, it’s not the only addition the Flames will have this year as the club still has a vacancy in the head coaches role.

Conroy, 51, played nine years with the Flames as a player, but has been in a managerial role with the organization since 2010-11 when he was hired as a special assistant to then general manager Jay Feaster. He was promoted to assistant general manager in 2014-15, and has held the role since.

Conroy will replace Brad Treliving, who parted ways with the club in April, in the manager’s chair and will have his work cut out for him as the club looks to retool after a disappointing 2022-23 season that saw them miss the playoffs.

In recent days, Conroy became the odds-on-favourite to be named GM. Calgary, however, had brought in multiple candidates to interview in person for the role that included ex-GM’s Dave Nonis, Stan Bowman and Marc Bergevin.

By all accounts, Conroy is a well-respected member of the Flames organization who has clearly put in the work with this club. Now, he will be tasked with naming a head coach — who could very well be a promotion for Wranglers bench boss Mitch Love.

The focus will quickly shift to free agency and the draft. Calgary enters the off-season with $1.25 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia, with multiple roles to fill on the ice.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.