MANALAPAN, Fla. — Ask Craig Conroy how his first nine months as general manager of the Calgary Flames have been, and he can do little more than let out a long sigh.
Not that Conroy is asking for your sympathy. He’s got his dream job, the upstate New York native is working in a passionate Calgary market and leading the same organization where he’s worked consecutively since he returned for a second stint as a player in 2007. Still in the relatively early stages of whichever ‘R’ word you choose – rebuild, retool, reshape – it might be a surprise to think that the Calgary Flames would be a player in free agency this summer. But Conroy is already looking ahead to the market and thinking about what might be able to make Calgary more competitive.
“If there’s the right length of a contract, if there’s a need that we have, we’ll do that. It’s hard to find certain players,” Conroy said. “Maybe to add a veteran or two would be something nice. We have a good mix. We’re trying to let the young guys play, and that’s still the priority, but if we can find help for two or three years, that’s what we’d be looking for because it’s hard to make trades for certain players and we still want to be competitive.
Depending on what happens with Linus Ullmark, Markstrom figures to be the best goaltender available in what is expected to be an underwhelming free agent goalie class. Complicating matters, in a good way, is that goaltender of the future Dustin Wolf has been excellent. Wolf, 22 and the two-time AHL Goalie of the Year, has a .931 save percentage in four starts in March since Markstrom went down with injury.
“I think Ryan and his communication, the way he deals with the players, what he wants to do, the way he’s building this – I’m very, very happy with things.”Very quietly, Jonathan Huberdeau seems to have found his footing in Calgary. There was no shortage of eyes on him earlier in the season after a tough start to the season that also saw him stapled to Huska’s bench for a stretch.