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A clear trend has emerged through Flames GM Craig Conroy’s 23 trades (so far)

Photo credit: © Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

By Ryan Pike

Jul 16, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 16, 2026, 01:41 EDT

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The 2026 NHL Draft was Craig Conroy’s fourth entry draft as general manager of the Calgary Flames.

Since ascending to the top hockey operations job in May 2023, Conroy has made a lot of moves – the Blake Coleman swap with Minnesota was his 23rd separate transaction with another club. And taken in the aggregate, there’s a pretty distinct form that a lot of his trades have: NHL experience out, futures in.

Back in January, we took a look at Conroy’s trade tenure after 32 months as GM. Let’s check in again!

Summarizing Craig Conroy’s 23 trades (so far)

(Assets that were added via trade but subsequently left via termination or free agency are marked was an asterisk.)

Assets Added

Assets Subtracted

F Yegor Sharangovich
D Joni Jurmo*
D Hunter Brzustewicz
D Artem Grushnikov*
D Daniil Miromanov*
F Riley Damiani*
D Nikita Okhotiuk*
D Kevin Bahl
F Morgan Frost
F Joel Farabee
D Zach Whitecloud
D Abram Wiebe
D Gavin White*
F Jonathan Castagna
F Ryan Strome
F Brennan Othmann
F Victor Olofsson*
F Max Curran
D Simon Nemec
F Maxim Tsyplakov
D Jacob Middleton
2023 3rd-round pick (F Aydar Suniev)
2024 1st-round pick (F Matvei Gridin)
2024 3rd-round pick (G Kirill Zarubin)
2024 5th-round pick (F Luke Misa)
2024 6th-round pick (D Eric Jamieson)
2025 1st-round pick (F Cole Reschny)
2025 2nd-round pick (F Theo Stockselius)
2025 7th-round pick (F Yan Matveiko)
2026 1st-round pick (F Jack Hextall)
2026 2nd-round pick (G Tobias Trejbal)
2026 2nd-round pick (F Alan Shaikhlislamov)
2026 3rd-round pick (F Joe Iginla)
2027 2nd-round pick
2027 3rd-round pick
2028 2nd-round pick
2028 4th-round pick
2029 2nd-round pick

F Tyler Toffoli
D Nikita Zadorov
F Elias Lindholm
D Chris Tanev
D Noah Hanifin
F Emilio Pettersen
G Jacob Markstrom
F Andrew Mangiapane
F Jakob Pelletier
D Rasmus Andersson
D Jeremie Poirier
D MacKenzie Weegar
F Nazem Kadri
D Etienne Morin
F Blake Coleman
2025 2nd-round pick
2026 2nd-round pick
2026 3rd-round pick
2026 7th-round pick
2027 4th-round pick
2027 7th-round pick
2028 7th-round pick

(Assets acquired, then subsequently traded in other moves, include Andrei Kuzmenko, Olli Maatta, 2024 second-round pick/Jacob Battaglia, 2024 4th-round pick, 2024 5th-round pick, 2026 2nd-round pick, 2026 2nd-round pick, 2027 1st-round pick and 2028 1st-round pick)

The players that Conroy has traded had a combined 8,435 NHL games at the time of their departures. The players he’s added had a combined 4,027 at the time of their arrivals. He’s traded 1.91 games of NHL experience for every one he’s brought in.

That seems like a pretty distinct trend in the aggregate, but it also emerges when you look at the individual swaps themselves.

Breaking it down trade by trade

Jun. 27, 2023: Tyler Toffoli (733 games) to New Jersey in exchange for Yegor Sharangovich (205 games) and 2023 third-round pick (used to select Aydar Suniev). Net loss of 528 NHL games.

Nov. 30, 2023: Nikita Zadorov (588 games) to Vancouver in exchange for 2026 third-round pick (used to select Joe Iginla) and 2024 fifth-round pick. Subsequently traded 2024 fifth-round pick to San Jose on Mar. 8, 2024 in exchange for Nikita Okhotiuk (58 games). Net loss of 530 games.

Jan. 31, 2024: Elias Lindholm (720 games) to Vancouver in exchange for Andrei Kuzmenko (124 games), Joni Jurmo (0 games), Hunter Brzustewicz (0 games), 2024 first-round pick (used to select Matvei Gridin) and 2024 fourth-round pick. Subsequently traded 2024 fourth-round pick to Philadelphia on Jun. 29, 2024 in exchange for 2024 fifth-round pick (used to select Luke Misa) and 2024 sixth-round pick (used to select Eric Jamieson). Subsequently traded Kuzmenko (at that point, 190 games), Jakob Pelletier (61 games), 2025 second-round pick and 2028 seventh-round pick to Philadelphia on Jan. 30, 2025 in exchange for Morgan Frost (278 games) and Joel Farabee (384 games). Net loss of 257 games.

Feb. 28, 2024: Chris Tanev (773 games) to Dallas (via New Jersey in three-way trade) in exchange for Artem Grushnikov (0 games), 2024 second-round pick (used to select Jacob Battaglia) and conditional 2026 third-round pick (not converted). Battaglia (0 games) was subsequently traded to the New York Rangers on Mar. 6, 2026 in exchange for Brennan Othmann (42 games). Net loss of 731 games.

Mar. 6, 2024: Noah Hanifin (659 games) to Vegas (via Philadelphia in three-way trade) in exchange for Daniil Miromanov (29 games), 2024 third-round pick (used to select Kirill Zarubin) and 2026 first-round pick (used to select Jack Hextall). Net loss of 630 games.

Mar. 7, 2024: Emilio Pettersen (0 games) to Dallas for Riley Damiani (0 games). No net gain or loss.

Jun. 19, 2024: Jacob Markstrom (485 games) to New Jersey for Kevin Bahl (148 games) and 2025 first-round pick (used to select Cole Reschny). Net loss of 337 games.

Jun. 27, 2024: Andrew Mangiapane (417 games) to Washington for 2025 second-round pick (used to select Theo Stockselius). Net loss of 417 games.

Jun. 29, 2024: 2026 seventh-round pick to Detroit for 2025 seventh-round pick (used to select Yan Matveiko). No net gain or loss.

Jan. 18, 2026: Rasmus Andersson (584 games) to Vegas for Zach Whitecloud (368 games), Abram Wiebe (0 games), 2027 first-round pick and 2028 second-round pick. Net loss of 216 games.

Feb. 2, 2026: Jeremie Poirier (0 games) to Dallas for Gavin White (0 games). No net gain or loss.

Mar. 4, 2026: MacKenzie Weegar (610 games) to Utah for Olli Maatta (783 games), Jonathan Castagna (0 games), 2026 second-round pick (used to select Alan Shaikhlislamov), 2026 second-round pick and 2026 second-round pick. Subsequently traded Mattta (at that point, 804 games) and Blake Coleman (693 games) to Minnesota on July 2, 2026 for Jacob Middleton (381 games), 2029 second-round pick, 2027 third-round pick and 2028 fourth-round pick. Net loss of 943 games.

Mar. 6, 2026: 2027 seventh-round pick to Anaheim for Ryan Strome (897 games). Net gain of 897 games.

Mar. 6, 2026: Nazem Kadri (1,046 games) and 2027 fourth-round pick to Colorado for Victor Olofsson (430 games), Max Curran (0 games), 2028 first-round pick and 2027 second-round pick. Net loss of 616 games.

June 23, 2026: Etienne Morin (0 games), 2027 first-round pick (Vegas’, from Andersson trade), 2028 first-round pick (Colorado’s, from Kadri trade) and 2026 second-round pick (Rangers’, from Weegar trade) to New Jersey for Simon Nemec (155 games) and Maxim Tsyplakov (126 games). Net gain of 281 games.

June 27, 2026: 2026 second-round pick (Utah’s, from Weegar trade) and 2026 third-round pick to Carolina for 2026 second-round pick (used to select Tobias Trejbal). No net gain or loss.

A few observations

If you’re keeping track, most of these transactions – on their own or as a group – either involve a net loss of NHL experience in favour of adding picks and prospects, or additions of NHL experience in ways that make sense. The additions of Farabee and Frost were in the context of (a) the Flames adding players in a key age group that had some perceived upside and (b) the big net loss of games in the Lindholm trade. The Strome trade was a gigantic add of NHL experience for a seventh-round pick, but it’s also adding a centre for pennies on the dollar to fill in for Kadri… and one that can be traded later on potentially.

There’s a bit of a tendency out there to say that the Flames began their rebuild in March 2026 when they started moving out established players with term remaining on their deals – Kadri and Weegar – rather than hold onto them until just before their deals expired. To that I say: yeah, sure, I suppose. But in the context of all 23 of Conroy’s deals, I would argue that those moves merely accelerated a trend that had started basically when Conroy started making moves in the latter parts of 2023.

Conroy’s been punting on the present for the sake of the future, and he’s been doing it pretty consistently since taking the top job.

What do you think about Conroy’s (many) trades when seeing them bundled together in the aggregate? Do you like the direction of the team? Let us know in the comments!

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