Asset management, focus on youth top priorities for Flames heading into draft

CALGARY – Heading into his first NHL Draft as a general manager, the Calgary Flames’ Craig Conroy might just be one of the most popular league executives when the draft gets underway in Nashville next Wednesday. 

The Flames have seven players on their roster who can sign extensions this summer before becoming unrestricted free agents in 2024, a list that’s led by No. 1 centre Elias Lindholm and top-pairing blueliner Noah Hanifin. The futures of those two key pieces will likely determine what happens with the rest of the roster.

Conroy has had several conversations with both Lindholm and Hanifin, characterizing his relationship with them as positive and that he gets along with both players.

After the Flames lost popular forward Johnny Gaudreau for nothing in July of 2022 when he opted to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, however, Conroy has made it clear that the team will prioritize asset management over allowing players to enter the final seasons of their contracts without extensions in place. Mikael Backlund, Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev and Oliver Kylington are also free agents in 2024.

“[The conversations with Hanifin and Lindholm] have been great,” Conroy said.

“They love the city. They have some questions. They want to know where the team’s going, what’s the plan, because they know these are long commitments for them.”

Conroy hasn’t given any player a hard deadline on when he needs an answer by.

“Obviously, the team wants to make quicker decisions, but I get where they’re coming from for their families and what they want to do,” Conroy said.

He also said that no player has definitively ruled out a return to the team. 

“They’re some of my favourite players we’ve had in Calgary.”

The Flames pick at No. 16 next Wednesday and have four other selections in Nashville, a number which could grow should they make any moves. Conroy has an idea of a handful of players who will likely be available when the team makes their first-round selection.

“When it gets to 10, 11, 12, every [team] likes someone different,” Conroy said.

“Maybe someone goes for a need, someone goes for a defenceman, someone wants this type of player. In my mind, I have three or four guys that could possibly be there…if they’re there, I’d be very excited to pick one of them.”

Flames’ director of amateur scouting Tod Button feels they can get a good player in a deep draft.

“At the start of the year, you would have probably said it was defence-short, but over the course of the year, there’s a couple of defencemen that have emerged that people maybe didn’t know about earlier,” he said.

“I think you have a forward, defence-deep draft with a lot of talent so as scouts we’re really excited, not only at 16, but going into the second round as well.”

Prior to being named general manager, Conroy had spent plenty of time in scouting meetings and is very familiar with the Flames’ process. 

“He’s very up-to-date on the player pool and his own opinions,” Button said.

The Flames have selected forwards with their three most recent first-round picks (2021 Matthew Coronato, 2020 Connor Zary, and 2019 Jakob Pelletier). 

“We’re going to take the best player available,” Button said.

“To decide that, you have to go through the whole process. There’s different types of best players, right? Is it the best defenceman? Is it the best centre? Is it the best power winger? You put a good defenceman, a good centre, and a good power winger up against each other, as scouts, we have to rank those guys. Sometimes it’s not always equal, the best player available. You have to sort that out…that’s the hardest part of the process, when you have different types of players and they each bring something really valuable to your team down the road, but they’re different types.”

After the draft comes free agency, which opens at noon ET on July 1. 

The Flames have five roster spots to fill and $1.25 million in salary-cap space, a number which could grow to $2.25 million if the NHL’s salary cap increases by $1 million to $83.5 million for the 2023-24 season as is expected. Conroy has emphasized leaving roster spots open to young, low-cap players and with such limited funds at his disposal, does not expect to be active on July 1.

“We’re just listening and exploring everything on how to make our team better,” Conroy said.

“As far as free agency, right now, I don’t see us as a very big player.”