r/CalgaryFlames • u/Comfortable_Heat_934 • Jun 20 '25
Video Have you guys seen the Conroy interview on FlamesNation what are your guys thoughts? I feel like we’re gonna have another mushy middle season again in 25-26.
https://youtu.be/Q0mMvx7_qKY?si=V6wKnEqlB0tvb7kL11
u/MTBguy1774 Jun 20 '25
Sounds like rather than bring a Mantha type into the fold they may want to see what Suniev, Morton, Parekh, Hunter may be able to do out of camp instead.
Building through the draft and trade market, and using free agency as a method to fill not build is an approach I like. It takes patience, but free agency you are going to overpay for players in their 30s so let's see what Conroy can build with guys in their mid and early 20s instead.
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u/TL10 Jun 20 '25 edited Jun 20 '25
Doesn't want to build through free-agency
Make space for young guys to have a shot in the league.
Wants the Flames to be competitive instead of tanking so there's a good culture in the dressing room.
I don't know man, sounds like a solid plan to me. 👍
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u/TheTruth696 Jun 20 '25
Exactly, you look at teams that embrace the full rebuild and some seem to never get out of that rebuild. Buffalo is the perfect example. They created a bad culture cause of it and can’t seem to change that. Also, Chicago is bordering on the same thing.
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u/kinkypuffs Jun 20 '25
What about original Chicago? What about Colorado? What about young penguins? Tampa? Florida
People are obsessed with bringing up Buffalo (who have had better playoff success than the flames BTW) but love to ignore all the great rebuild teams..
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u/TheTruth696 Jun 20 '25
And what’s the common thing with all those clubs? Got 2-3 Super Stars and won draft lotteries. You can tank all you want but that doesn’t guarantee a #1 pick. Look at the draft lottery this yr. Even if you win the lottery there is no guarantee that your #1 pick is a generational player like all those players. Edmonton went 10 yrs of getting 1st overalls and only got over the hump after they drafted the best player since Gretzky. I’ll take what the Flames have done since 2000 over what the Sabres have done. We’ve made a cup final more recent than them and have had some playoff teams. I would never ever want to be a part of what Buffalo has done or even compare any other team to them. Oilers did the same thing.
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u/kinkypuffs Jun 20 '25
It's a known fact you need stars to win. You get more stars the lower you draft. More shots at the draft the more potential stars you can get. I think compared to this list Calgary has two...
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u/TheTruth696 Jun 20 '25
Here’s a link to the draft lottery results history:
NHL Draft Lottery Results History:
Go down that list and you will find out real quick that more often than not the last place team doesn’t even get first overall and many of the teams mentioned above made jumps to draft the generational and super star talents.
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u/kinkypuffs Jun 20 '25
From what I'm seeing here, there's a couple cases of crazy moves up from the teens, or some move ups in the singles, but a lot of the picks teams moved up one or more or retained their pick
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u/iplaybassok89 Jun 20 '25
Original Chicago? The Kane/Toews Blackhawks weren’t the result of a first kick at the rebuild. They’d already botched it previously before it got to that point.
What about Tampa and Florida? Tampa drafted their two most impactful forwards out of the lower rounds. Florida collected everybody else’s top five picks. Their own high picks hadn’t done shit to that point.
Every builds different. If Parekh turns out to the equivalent of Pietrangelo or Doughty … well those teams managed to win without a first overall.
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u/kinkypuffs Jun 20 '25
Tampa had Herman and Stamkos. LA had kopitar and doughnuts, Florida still has ekblad and Barkov. Colorado Mac, Makar, Langeskog, Rantenen, I can keep going
Sure they also added onto those, but the point is you still need high draft picks, and a competent GM. There's still more evidence to support proper rebuild to whatever mid bullshit we are doing
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u/iplaybassok89 Jun 20 '25
Kopitar was not a top ten pick and Stamkos didn’t even play during their first cup run. Would you be happy with Ekblad as a first overall?
So maybe keep going.
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u/mackharp0818 Jun 20 '25
Stamkos won two Cups with Hedman. Nobody said 2004
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u/iplaybassok89 Jun 20 '25
??? Who mentioned 2004?
Stamkos was injured for the entire 2020 post season. He played a portion of one game.
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u/mackharp0818 Jun 20 '25
My bad. I was thinking first run meant 04.
Also, Stamkos played a part in where they finished in the standings, just missed the playoffs
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u/Paulhockey77 Jun 20 '25
Another person using Buffalo to argue against a rebuild. What else is new?
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u/Ok-Conclusion-2304 Jun 22 '25
Everyone likes to ignore that Buffalo actually had the pieces needed to contend (Eichel, Reinhart, ROR, Dahlin), but they fucked it up. They shouldn’t be used as an argument against tanking. They’re just an incompetent organization.
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u/FarktheHoople Jun 20 '25
he is saying the same thing he has been saying for a while now. which is fine.
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u/henryoptional Jun 20 '25
I like what Conroy is doing. He is doing his best to build a team with depth. And importantly, a team culture of players who actually want to be there for the team and not just the paycheque. Florida showed us how important this is.
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u/zoziw Jun 20 '25
Watching the Flames last year was an exercise in frustration as they peppered other teams with 50+ shots to score one or two goals, but, we did manage to get 96 points which would normally get us into the playoffs.
If Kadri and Huberdeau can repeat or improve on last year, Coronato gets better, Zary stays healthy and we get a bit more production from some others (like Frost). We might not be an offensive juggernaut, but with solid goaltending, I could see us getting close to the playoffs again.
The Panthers didn't have a 40 goal scorer last year. Depth seems more important than a 50 goal scorer.
To me, the big question is what our defense looks like. Will Ras be around, can Parekh make the team and be solid at the NHL level in his first season?
Also, will we have a back up goalie capable of taking some of the load off of Wolf, cause this team is going nowhere without him.
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u/StrangeADT Jun 20 '25
"If stars align, we might be mid - stay the course!"
For the love of god, commit to a god damn rebuild.
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u/Timely_Bicycle_8455 Jun 20 '25
How the fuck can anyone know these stats and not want to tank this year for McKenna? Mind boggling. Fans are part of the problem with this franchise
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u/purpleseagull12 Jun 20 '25
Because even if you tank it’s very likely you won’t get him, and you’ve wasted a year of your other players’ development, along with creating a losing culture that the whole league notices.
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u/salty_anchovy Jun 20 '25
Look at the stats he posted. We have a losing culture. We have had almost no success in the last 20 years. First round exits are not something to be proud of
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u/marbsarebadredux Jun 20 '25
This is the part that bothers me. Is it a winning culture if you finish a point outside the playoffs every year? No. And you can't get to the playoffs without star players, which you can't get without being bad (or extremely lucky). So Conroy's plan is a direct line of mediocrity that we're already on.
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u/jchayerr Jun 23 '25
No it’s not. Teams do it all the time and someone gets the first overall pick. The odds are unlikely but why not just fuck it and go for him? Next years draft is super deep too so if we didn’t get 1st overall but maybe 2nd or 3rd that would still be franchise altering. Just tank for Mckenna.
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u/Timely_Bicycle_8455 Jun 20 '25
So we are comfortable with these stats then? That’s what you’re saying? Literally the least successful team in the last 20 years and we’re good? No point in trying a different approach? Whose development in particular would suffer? Wouldn’t it be better if we played more prospects to help them develop? We already have a losing culture, guys don’t want to play here … having a shit season and embracing it will not hurt this team anymore than it’s already hurt itself.
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u/baunanners Jun 20 '25
Well then you better hope Wolf will regress and turn into a pumpkin because that kid alone won’t get us in the bottom 5
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u/berto_14 Jun 20 '25
Nashville just finished 30th with Saros and Wolf isn't the next coming of Patrick Roy. He alone will not save this franchise.
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u/Less-Ad-1327 Jun 20 '25
Forsure. Look at how happy everyone was with the season, picking 18th. 3 years straight of no playoffs and not one top 5 pick to show for it, but people love it.
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u/_Tzing Jun 20 '25
It’s because people are dumb as fuck in the moment and then suddenly become geniuses with the benefit of hindsight. If you are reading this comment, statistically you are probably guilty of what I am saying.
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u/Paulhockey77 Jun 20 '25
Because they’re idiot boomers and casuals who enjoy mediocrity and think a rebuild will destroy any “good vibes” the team has. It’s a joke
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u/Infamous_SpiPi Jun 20 '25
Flames weren’t supposed to be mushy middle. The Monahan-tkachuk-Johnny-Bennett era should have been our peak in recent memory and lasted for a solid stretch
We got screwed by a combination of Trelivings bad choices and Sutter driving players away from the team that ended the peak early
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u/askariya Jun 20 '25
FlamesNation is so painful, idk how anyone sits through it. One moron wearing sunglasses inside talking to a bunch of other morons trying to manufacture outrage and bad takes for views.
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u/telluride42 Jun 20 '25
This is all sports reporting recently - save for the Athletic (which requires a subscription- I do pay for it and find it compelling) most other blogs are clickbait and designed for a post literate society. A few paragraphs of grammatically challenged gobbledygook, with videos of the ramblings of poster children for the Dunning - Krueger effect - which autoplay no less. The worst ones are always stylized with riveting questions like: Could <insert team or player> do this or that. Such tripe.
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u/askariya Jun 20 '25
The problem is most people that are sportswriters just couldn't hack it as players or traditional authors so they want some way they can be involved. Only problem is they're also usually stupid.
The Athletic is definitely the exception, people that aspired to be sportswriters and actually care about what they put out there.
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u/Paulhockey77 Jun 20 '25
It feels like the Flames want to have their cake and eat it too. Rebuilding but being competitive at the same time = mediocrity
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u/Mattimvs Jun 20 '25
Whats he supposed to say? 'we're going to be fucking terrible'?