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In just 32 months, Craig Conroy has wildly transformed the Flames (and he’s probably not finished)
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jan 23, 2026, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 23, 2026, 00:01 EST
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On May 23, 2023, the Calgary Flames named Craig Conroy – previously a 1,009-game NHL player, a 2006 Olympian, and an assistant general manager for a decade – as the club’s new general manager.
In the 32 months since Conroy became GM, he’s had to deal with… well, a lot.
His first 10 months were spent deciding the fates of seven pending unrestricted free agents. Then there were subtractions of established players over the 2024 off-season. And more recently, the exit of Rasmus Andersson via a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The only constant under Conroy has been change.
And, as Conroy set out to do when he was introduced as GM, the team has gotten younger with almost every move that he’s made.

Conroy’s trades, at a glance

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
2023 3rd-round pick (F Aydar Suniev)
2024 1st-round pick (F Matvei Gridin)
2024 2nd-round pick (F Jacob Battaglia)
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 Stockselius0
2025 7th-round pick (F Yan Matveiko)
2026 1st-round pick
2026 3rd-round pick
2027 1st-round pick
2028 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
2025 2nd-round pick
2026 7th-round pick
2028 7th-round pick
(Acquired, then subsequently traded: Andrei Kuzmenko, 2024 4th-round pick and 2024 5th-round pick.)
The players that Conroy has traded had a combined 5,132 NHL games at the time of their departures. The players he’s added had a combined 1,404 at the time of their arrivals. He’s traded 3.65 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.

Let’s go 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 (selection pending) 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). Net loss of 773 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 (selection pending). Net loss of 60 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, 2025: Rasmus Andersson to Vegas for Zach Whitecloud (368 games), Abram Wiebe (0 games), 2027 first-round pick and conditional 2028 second-round pick. Net loss of 216 games.
In other words: so far, in every related transaction chain, the Flames have gotten younger and shed NHL experience.

Past behaviour suggests future behaviour

Gang, running a hockey team is sometimes like playing poker: it really doesn’t do a team’s management group much good to openly profess what they’re doing far and wide – telling everybody what you’re doing is a great way of losing leverage in trade negotiations, after all. But there’s a saying: you are what you repeatedly do.
For the last 32 months, Conroy has pretty consistently chosen to make moves to get younger and divested the Flames of established veterans in favour of picks and prospects.
Eventually, the Flames will hit a critical mass of young talent and start moving up the standings again. But until that point, we suspect we’ll see Conroy continue to explore opportunities to get younger.

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