The Calgary Flames began to head in a different direction after the 2021-22 season. They were very much a Stanley Cup contender that season, but wound up being dismantled in the second round of the playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers. After that loss, things quickly began to fall apart.
Johnny Gaudreau departed the organization in favour of the Columbus Blue Jackets, while Matthew Tkachuk was traded a short time later to the Florida Panthers. While the Flames attempted to be a contender once again in 2022-23, it was clear they needed a new direction, and they certainly appeared to be heading that way.
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The Flames wound up parting ways with general manager (GM) Brad Treliving after the 2022-23 season and replaced him with Craig Conroy. Right away, Conroy seemed to suggest that this team was going to focus on building toward the future, which, to many, sounded like the Flames were headed for a much-needed rebuild.
To a degree, Conroy has made moves indicative of a rebuild, as he’s moved out several veteran players in exchange for draft picks and/or prospects over his tenure. That said, many of these trades he had little say over, as the players essentially forced their way out of town. Conroy even attempted to sign Elias Lindholm to a long-term extension, which, thankfully, for the Flames and himself, was turned down by the Swedish centreman.
Flames Not Committing Either Way
What many believe the Flames need to do to become a contender is bottom out for a year or two. Many of the NHL’s top teams became so after struggling for several years and bringing in elite talent through the draft. The Flames, however, don’t seem to be too keen on that strategy.
It seems as though Flames management isn’t going in any direction whatsoever. They just narrowly missed the playoffs last season, and were seemingly happy to be in the mix right until the end, even if fans weren’t. Instead of perhaps building on that success and improving their roster, however, they did nothing at all in free agency aside from signing backup goalie Ivan Prosvetov.
Not adding free agents is by no means a bad decision, as it shows patience. That patience, however, would only make sense if a rebuild was the plan of attack. Clearly it’s not, as the Flames have not moved out any veterans this offseason, despite having many with value, including, but not limited to, Blake Coleman, Nazem Kadri, and MacKenzie Weegar.
Given the moves, or lack thereof, that the Flames made, it’s hard to envision them finishing any differently than they did a season ago. That would once again mean that they wouldn’t be good enough to make the playoffs, but also not bad enough to help them get a really high pick in the first round. This past draft saw their first pick come at 18th overall.
Flames Continuing Path of Mediocrity
Why this is so frustrating is due to the fact that it’s the exact same type of pattern we’ve seen from this organization year after year. Even in their ‘good’ years with the likes of Gaudreau and Tkachuk, it felt as though management never really had any concrete plan and was just making things up on the fly. One year they’d make the playoffs, only to miss the next, but nothing ever changed.
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While things certainly have changed since the Gaudreau and Tkachuk era, that was due to many veterans making it clear they wanted to head elsewhere. Treliving certainly never made any sort of big or bold moves to try and shake things up, and as of now, it doesn’t appear Conroy and his staff want to do that either. In fact, it is quite unclear as to what they are doing at all, as they are set to enter yet another season where their roster is just okay.
