Six trades down, nine more to go. Let’s dive into trades 7-9.

As always, I am going to hand out letter grades (A, B, C, or D) for each trade.

For the sake of efficiency, I am only going to grade the 15 NHL trades Conroy has made. Pick swaps at the draft and minor league trades will not be evaluated.

I’ll be breaking these deals down with a mix of analysis from the time the deal was made and then with some hindsight now that we’ve had some time to see how they’ve worked out for the Flames.

To New Jersey: Jacob Markstrom (31.25% retained)

To Calgary: Kevin Bahl, 2025 1st Round Pick (Cole Reschny)

This deal turned into a bit of a soap opera for the Calgary Flames.

Craig Conroy had a deal in place, with Jacob Markstrom waiving his no trade clause, to send the Flames goaltender to the New Jersey Devils in February of 2024. That deal fell apart for unknown reasons, but it was ultimately the beginning of the end for Markstrom in Calgary.

Four months later, Markstrom was officially moved to New Jersey in exchange for defenceman Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first round draft pick that turned into Cole Reschny.

This was one of, if not the best trade Conroy has made since becoming GM.

He moved out a disgruntled, inconsistent, aging goaltender for two valuable assets. Bahl has turned into a legitimate top four, defensive defenceman who is signed to an excellent contract. And Reschny is the top forward prospect in the Flames system.

This trade also opened up a spot for Dustin Wolf to become a full time NHL goaltender which is a move that helped the Flames miraculously get within one point of making the playoffs in 2024-25.

To Washington: Andrew Mangiapane

To Calgary: 2025 2nd Round Pick (Theo Stockselius)

There has been a common theme in many of the trades Craig Conroy has made as Flames GM, and that is he moves out his pending UFA’s.

And that is exactly what he did with Andrew Mangiapane. The Flames were going in a younger direction and Mangiapane was going to be on the outside looking in.

Conroy was able to move the effective winger to Washington for a second round draft pick in 2025. A fairly significant return for a small winger coming off a 14 goal season, and was a pending UFA. Another example of Conroy doing a great job of asset management.

Mangiapane put up 28 points as a member of the Washington Capitals. He signed with the Oilers and was subsequently traded to the Blackhawks after struggling in Edmonton.

To Philadelphia: Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, 2025 2nd Round Pick, 2028 7th Round Pick

To Calgary: Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost

This was a win win trade. The Flames added two top nine forwards with upside. And the Flyers opened up cap space by moving off a couple players who did not see eye to eye with John Tortorella and needed a fresh start.

The Flames gave up a pending UFA in Andrei Kuzmenko. Jakob Pelletier, a prospect who had been past by others in the organization. And two draft picks for young forwards that had a 50 and 46 point seasons in their early 20s.

The idea was to get a little younger and give the 2024-25 team a much needed boost in their forward ranks. Unfortunately, Farabee and Frost struggled to produce offence and were a reason why the Flames weren’t able to get that one extra point to make the playoffs in ’24-’25.

They made up for it in 2025-26. Frost led the Flames in goals with 22 and was tied for second in points with 43. Farabee scored 20 goals for the third time in his career. But the most impressive part of his game was his improvement in the defensive zone. Farabee became one of the most relied upon forwards in all situations.

It’s time to make a decision on what to do with both of these players. They’ve become a big part of this team on and off the ice. Frost is a pending UFA. Farabee has two years remaining on his contract before becoming a UFA. They could be re-signed or they could be traded. Both would be a positive for the team, if they could come to terms on a reasonable contract.

Both players have rebuilt their trade value to the point where the Flames will likely be able to get more in return than what they gave up, which makes this trade a win for Conroy.

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