Friends, the Calgary Flames are in the midst of a pretty radical overhaul of their roster. You can call it whatever you want – a rebuild, retool, strategic retreat, revamp&#8230; whatever – but that&#8217;s the brass tacks of it.
Over at Sportsnet, our pal Elliotte Friedman went through all 32 NHL clubs in <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/podcasts/32-thoughts/">his first edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast with new co-host Kyle Bukauskas</a>, and he included a lot of thoughts about the state of the Flames.
After a discussion of what a great job Flames fans and the Flames organization have done with their ongoing tributes to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, Friedman dove into the Flames&#8217; hockey operations plan a bit.
Here&#8217;s Friedman:
<blockquote>So this is the thing about Calgary: Craig Conroy clearly has a plan. His plan is to start turning over his team a little bit. We talked before about teams getting completely run over and not being competitive, and your young players getting man-handled. He stopped short of that. He said I’m not going to bring in veterans, I’m going to keep them. Yes, he brought in a couple, but he kept a couple. And that is what he wanted to do. I don’t think he wanted to completely tear it down. I think we can all see where the Flames are going. They are in a rebuild, but he didn’t want to do it to where the young players starting up would get completely destroyed on ice.
Now, there have been some rumours about some of the Flames players. This is what I believe is going on. I think there are some players, who are still there, who have said ‘look, if this is a complete teardown, I’d like you to think about something else.’ And Craig Conroy has said look, last year was a really difficult summer for us, this year has been a much better summer, it’s been a lot quieter, I’d like to keep it that way. His plan is to start the year, see how it goes, and then decide what he’s going to do with some of these players. He’s asked his players to keep an open mind, see how this year goes, and then he’ll start looking at what he might need to do or what they want to do. I think those players have said okay, we will do that. And especially I think now, everybody’s just like okay, there’s bigger things, more important things, we don’t need any different noise.</blockquote>
In media appearances throughout this past year – particularly since he began moving out veteran pending unrestricted free agents – Conroy has spoken about the team &#8220;staying competitive.&#8221; Friedman&#8217;s comments not only fit into that line of thinking, but fill in some of the gaps regarding what Conroy means when he uses that term. The Flames are aiming to get younger, but they don&#8217;t want to throw their young players to the wolves, so they&#8217;re trying to hold onto key veterans in order to shepherd the group through the revamping process.
Will the Flames make more moves? Well, they seem inevitable when you consider that Andrei Kuzmenko and Anthony Mantha (among others) are entering the upcoming season on expiring contracts. But it doesn&#8217;t sound like the Flames are in any hurry to move players out, especially when compared to how hectic last season was in terms of player movement.
The Flames begin rookie camp next week and gather for training camp for the main group a week after that.
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Friends, the Calgary Flames are in the midst of a pretty radical overhaul of their roster. You can call it whatever you want – a rebuild, retool, strategic retreat, revamp... whatever – but that's the brass tacks of it.

Over at Sportsnet, our pal Elliotte Friedman went through all 32 NHL clubs in <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/podcasts/32-thoughts/">his first edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast with new co-host Kyle Bukauskas</a>, and he included a lot of thoughts about the state of the Flames.

After a discussion of what a great job Flames fans and the Flames organization have done with their ongoing tributes to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, Friedman dove into the Flames' hockey operations plan a bit.

Here's Friedman:
<blockquote>So this is the thing about Calgary: Craig Conroy clearly has a plan. His plan is to start turning over his team a little bit. We talked before about teams getting completely run over and not being competitive, and your young players getting man-handled. He stopped short of that. He said I’m not going to bring in veterans, I’m going to keep them. Yes, he brought in a couple, but he kept a couple. And that is what he wanted to do. I don’t think he wanted to completely tear it down. I think we can all see where the Flames are going. They are in a rebuild, but he didn’t want to do it to where the young players starting up would get completely destroyed on ice.

Now, there have been some rumours about some of the Flames players. This is what I believe is going on. I think there are some players, who are still there, who have said ‘look, if this is a complete teardown, I’d like you to think about something else.’ And Craig Conroy has said look, last year was a really difficult summer for us, this year has been a much better summer, it’s been a lot quieter, I’d like to keep it that way. His plan is to start the year, see how it goes, and then decide what he’s going to do with some of these players. He’s asked his players to keep an open mind, see how this year goes, and then he’ll start looking at what he might need to do or what they want to do. I think those players have said okay, we will do that. And especially I think now, everybody’s just like okay, there’s bigger things, more important things, we don’t need any different noise.</blockquote>
In media appearances throughout this past year – particularly since he began moving out veteran pending unrestricted free agents – Conroy has spoken about the team "staying competitive." Friedman's comments not only fit into that line of thinking, but fill in some of the gaps regarding what Conroy means when he uses that term. The Flames are aiming to get younger, but they don't want to throw their young players to the wolves, so they're trying to hold onto key veterans in order to shepherd the group through the revamping process.

Will the Flames make more moves? Well, they seem inevitable when you consider that Andrei Kuzmenko and Anthony Mantha (among others) are entering the upcoming season on expiring contracts. But it doesn't sound like the Flames are in any hurry to move players out, especially when compared to how hectic last season was in terms of player movement.

The Flames begin rookie camp next week and gather for training camp for the main group a week after that.
<h1>This article is brought to you by Alberta Blue Cross</h1>
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-130957" src="https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2099/08/ABC_Logo_Stacked_RGB_Cyan.png" alt="" width="380" height="117" />
Don’t let the hassles and risks of travel keep you from making connections that matter. From lost baggage and trip cancellation to medical emergencies, Alberta Blue Cross has you covered on every adventure. Best of all, Flight Delay Service is included. Travel worry-free with travel insurance from Alberta Blue Cross and get access to 24/7 assistance if you need it. If you’re traveling to the U.S. – you’ll get access to one of their largest healthcare networks which provides direct payment to hospitals. This means you won’t have to pay medical expenses out of pocket. Protect your next trip today at <a href="http://ab.bluecross.ca/travel" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ab.bluecross.ca/travel&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1725732020556000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0r078NBA08t8ZEv1_BFG2N">ab.bluecross.ca/travel</a>.

Friedman: Calgary Flames taking a wait and see approach before making further moves

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