On Friday, Calgary Flames general manager Craig Conroy appeared on Frank Seravalli’s podcast, Frankly Speaking.
There were a few interesting quotes from that interview, including Conroy admitting that Dustin Wolf’s play may expedite the rebuild a bit. Another interesting tidbit is that maybe the Flames are looking for a rental closer to the deadline… at the right price.
Conroy: The one thing is though I want to get the right players, the right age group…  I don’t see rentals as a long-term fit for us. I mean, maybe depending on where we are at the deadline, maybe that does make sense at that point.
Seravalli: You know, a last minute thing where you can pick up someone cheap that would not cost you futures, is that something you’d be into?
Conroy: Exactly, well said, you’re reading my mind, Frank. That’s exactly it. If something makes sense though and a younger player and we had to give up assets, oh for sure. You’re always looking to make your team better and that’s my job. Just to do it for a few months in hoping to make the playoffs, I don’t see that in the cards right now.
On Jan. 30, the Flames made a hockey trade, moving Jakob Pelletier, Andrei Kuzemenko, and two picks to the Philadelphia Flyers for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. Both Frost (25) and Farabee (24) fit the Flames age scheme while the Flames have their rights for at least until the end of the 2025-26 season.
It seems as if those are the types of deals the Flames will look for before the deadline, think trading for Dylan Cozens (23) or Casey Mittelstadt (26). But what if a rental could be had for a fifth-round pick for example? If the Flames can improve their team in the short term and make a push for the playoffs, giving up a late pick where the player isn’t likely to pan out may not be the worst of ideas.
The Flames have more than enough picks as well. They’ll have two firsts this draft, a second, a third, a fifth, a sixth, and a seventh. They also have an additional first and third in next year’s draft.
Regarding their first-round pick, their first-round pick belongs to the Montréal Canadiens if the Flames don’t finish in a top 10 position in the draft and the Florida Panthers pick is lower than the Flames. Ideally, the Flames finish top 10 in the draft or earn a postseason position, as losing the 11th-16th pick to the Canadiens would be less than ideal.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what the Flames do ahead of the Mar. 7 trade deadline.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.
Be sure to head to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel to check out the full interview!
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