Conroy prioritizing Flames’ homegrown talent over pricey free agents
Unless Craig Conroy can land his coveted righty via trade, it would be salient to continue doing what made the Flames so successful this season — keep spots open for more youngsters to prove their worth.
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CALGARY — Asked what tops his wish list this summer, Craig Conroy didn’t hesitate.
“The right centre would be on the bucket list, for sure,” said the Calgary Flames general manager, whose organization lacks righties and centres more than anything
“At the pro scouting meetings in May I’ll challenge them to kind of target people that would be here long term, that can be a difference-maker for us.
“I don’t think our list would be very long, but if there’s an age-appropriate person that’s a game changer that we feel we have an opportunity to get, we’re definitely going to take a shot at them.”
Indeed, the list will be a short one, as Puckpedia.com lists just eight right-handed centres with expiring contracts between Conroy’s coveted age range of 22 and 26.
It’s topped by Winnipeg’s Gabe Vilardi, and Boston’s 33-goal Morgan Geekie, who would be pricey but welcome additions to any team.
Alas, both are coveted first-liners currently playing on the wing, not up the middle.
The remaining six are all RFA’s, topped by Dallas’s 23-year-old Mavrik Bourque, who was the highest scorer, with 11 goals and 25 points.
The list is rounded out by Cody Glass, Rasmus Kupari, Mark Kastelic, Philip Tomasino and Marc Gatcomb.
Only Geekie is a UFA. The others would have to be offer-sheeted, a concept Conroy is open to. But with the cap going up, most teams have more wiggle room to thwart such advances.
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All of this is to say that despite having more than $34 million in cap space this summer, it’s quite likely Conroy will spend the summer sitting on his wallet, exhibiting the type of patience that has been his greatest virtue as a GM to date.
He’ll take care of RFAs like Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, Kevin Bahl, Connor Zary, Adam Klapka and Sam Morton and Rory Kerins.
He’ll have to contemplate re-signing Dan Vladar, Joel Hanley and Justin Kirkland, and the big decision is whether to extend Rasmus Andersson or trade hime.
In short, it’s quite likely the third-year GM will return with a team similar to the one that finished so well.
Unless he can land his coveted righty via trade, it would be salient to continue doing what made the team so successful this season — keep spots open for more youngsters to prove their worth.
“We’ve got a great group of veteran guys, and if we sprinkle in these younger guys, and add a few more moving forward, I think that’s a recipe for more success next year,” he said.
“We’re going to look in free agency to see if there’s something that makes sense. Again, we’re not just going to spend money. I know everyone’s going to say, ‘well, they have so much money.’ It’s just like at the deadline, if we thought we could do something to make the team improve, we would have done something.”
Instead, he left the team intact and watched the careful blend of old and young go 11-2-3 down the stretch to finish with 96 points — the highest total ever to miss the playoffs.
It kept the door open for Klapka to emerge as a late-season revelation, demonstrating he’s capable of being an opening-night fixture.
In a season in which Dustin Wolf and Coronato used their first full seasons in the NHL to prove they are franchise cornerstones, the Flames also saw Kirkland prove he too is worthy of being re-signed.
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Kerins started knocking on the door with a 33-goal season in the AHL, which included five games and four assists in the bigs.
Centre Sam Morton scored in his NHL debut last week, college sniper Aydar Suniev should challenge for a spot this fall, and last year’s camp star, Sam Honzek, should also push hard for a re-do.
Competition is always key, but last year’s practice of adding veteran insurance like Anthony Mantha and Tyson Barrie can’t be repeated.
Nothing should threaten the ability of youngsters to continue making the jump.
“The one thing we’ve talked about is getting young players in the lineup, like we did with Klapka,” said Conroy.
“It’s a nice thing to have when you don’t have to go out and find that somewhere in free agency, you’ve kind of home-grown it. It’s awesome. That’s what we’re trying to do with all these guys. All the guys on the Wranglers, we want them to make that push, to come up and earn a spot and push these other guys forward.”
Slow and steady is the course.
“We do believe in the guys that are here, and the way we played down the stretch, if we can come back and do that, that’d be a pretty special thing too,” said Conroy, well-aware there are only 20 right-handed centres in the entire league between age 22 and 26.
“Is there someone that can push us over that edge? We’re gonna look to see if we can find that person and add them next year.
“But if we don’t find anyone, I would say we would not do a lot.”
