The Flames are positioned for something perfect… | Calgary Flames News

Calgary Flames General Manager Craig Conroy has been no stranger to making a big trade. Vets like Coleman, Cawdry, Weeger, Anderson, Lindholm, Tanev, and Hannafin have all been dealt away, but CeCe never had all the power. With a clean slate, CeCe and the Flames now hold all of the power. We're going to get to all that more in this video, but first I want to welcome you to Flames Digest. I'm Mark Griffith. If you're new around here and you love the Flames, make sure you subscribe so you can stay up to date on all the latest news, updates, reports, and rumors revolving on your Calgary Flames. We would love to welcome you to the Flames Digest family. I'm actually going to start with some bits and bobs first. A little miscellaneous chapter here. Normally, obviously, I'd do the main piece and then get into the miscellaneous stuff, but there was some stuff I wanted to talk about because a couple videos ago we spoke about the schedule release, of course, you know, the final game in the Dome against Vancouver, the final home opener against Seattle, the long road trips, and home stands, but there are a couple things that I did want to point out as well because the Flames actually have what a lot of people would this year, which is interesting. There are going to be a lot of team tank folks next year as well, but I don't know. Schedule-based, the Flames have it a lot easier this year than last season, but the first thing I want to take a look at is the amount of back-to-backs in this upcoming season. The Flames are tied with Vegas for the least amount of back-to-backs, which a lot of people would say is, of course, a favorable schedule. You're not playing tired on that second day, which is very interesting. The top team has almost doubled in Pittsburgh with 15, which is pretty crazy. I know the scheduling is different this year. There's more games, there's a lot more international stuff, there's the weird Monday matinee games to appeal to the European audience, which is quite interesting. The Flames have zero of those games, by the way, but either way, first big bit here, or bob, depending if you want to call it a bit or a bob, but the least amount of back-to-backs heading into this season. The other part of that is how often teams play opponents who are on their second half of back-to-back, so a scheduled win is another way to say it. I guess a scheduled win is more so when that team is on the second half of a back-to-back and you are not, but either way, putting it just as when you're playing the team who's on their second half of back-to-back. The Flames have a lot of those as well. Does that say 15? Sorry, it's really small from where I can see, but either way, they're up there, which again, is favorable. You're playing against your opponent when they're tired. Now, I don't know how many of those come off when the Flames have back-to-backs. I'm sure someone could pretty easily figure that out and let us know in the comments below, but as we know, we only have eight back-to-backs, so it'd be at least about half of them guaranteed that wouldn't be that way, but again, kind of seems like the Flames have a lot more of a favorable schedule this year. There's obviously no big Olympic break, so it'll be quite interesting. The Flames, you know, if they play like the team who they were after the trade deadline last year, they very well could find themselves in the playoffs, because as we know, the Pacific Division, not very strong, and the Western Conference, pretty easy to sneak in there last year. I mean, if a team like L.A. could make it in, anyone can make it in. Another thing I wanted to touch on was just real quick, this article from The Athletic by good old Dom. He says, which NHL teams improved the most this off-season, and it didn't end up being just a couple teams thrown in here. He actually ranked them one to 32, and can you take a wild guess of where the Flames are and how much they improved this off-season compared to the rest of the teams in the league? Well, they clocked in at number 21, which was a net rating of a minus four based off the last time that he did this, but in, obviously picked up Siplikov, Simon Nemecz, and Jake Middleton, and out is Blake Coleman and the best defenseman in Calgary Flames history, Ole Mata. He says, we'll see how Nemecz fares as Calgary's top dog, but it'll be difficult to do much given how depleted the team's forward core is. The loss of Coleman, still a strong play-driving winger, is fairly substantial, nullifying any positive effect from Nemecz's addition, and honestly, that's totally fair. Again, the Flames aren't expected to be all that good of a team next season. They'll probably end up surprising a lot of people and being better. I mean, it won't surprise Flames fans. We know where we belong, and that's the much middle of surprising people outside of the Flames organization and fan base. I think they will be a little bit better than what a lot of people are saying right now, but again, that's just because I'm traumatized from where the Flames do always end up in this standing. The last little bit slash bob I wanted to take a look at before we get into the main piece here was this. It's that Colin Patterson, Mickey DuPont, Mickey's son Landon, wonder who that could be, and our friend Brody from Kidsport Calgary took part in the PepsiCo Foundation West 15th annual golf tournament at Silver Tip Golf Course, so Flames prospects here points out Landon DuPont to the Flames confirmed, hashtag 2027 NHL draft, and that'll be a topic of conversation for a very long time. If the Flames, you know, aren't all that great next year, there will be a lot of Landon DuPont videos coming out, but either way, super cool to see that the DuPonts were represented there. Colin Patterson as well, good old Stanley Cup champion with the Flames, of course, and then getting Brody in there from Kidsport Calgary, super cool as well, and who knows, I don't think DuPont would hate it all that much if he did end up being a Calgary Flame, but it would be quite awesome to see that for sure. Now, let's get into the power here, and it's the power that Craig Conroy has, and the Flames really are positioned for, I guess, something kind of perfect, or at least something better than what we're used to, so this is an interesting article here, once again from Ryan O'Hara. He's written loads of Flames stuff this offseason, so shout out to him, he's doing a great job. This comes from the Hockey Writers. Headline reads, the Calgary Flames pulled all the leverage as trade market heats up, so I could have done the classic, you know, Flames trade rumors heating up, yada, yada, yada, but either way, I wanted it to be a little bit different, because the trades that the Flames can now make are so different than some of the other ones we've seen, especially, you know, the Hannafin trade, the Cawdry trade, the ones where Conroy didn't have that much leverage and not much power, so trade interest in Morgan Frost, Enzac, Whitecloud continues to grow, but the Flames have no reason to rush with Craig Conroy firmly in control of the market. We kind of heard that when it came to the defensemen, when, you know, we were talking about early on about Rasmus Anderson specifically, but then Quinn Hughes got traded, and that kind of shifted all the power away from Conroy, but either way, the Calgary Flames may have done most of their heavy lifting this offseason, but don't mistake the silence for inactivity. GM Craig Conroy isn't finished listening. After reshaping much of Calgary's roster over the past several months, the Flames remain one of the NHL's most intriguing teams to watch on the trade market. According to David Pagnotta, rival clubs continue to check in regularly with center Morgan Frost and defenseman Zach Whitecloud among the names drawing the most interest, and I see on Twitter daily people still talking about Whitecloud, and Morgan Frost is thrown in there quite a bit. So is Huberto, believe it or not. Morgan Frost's name is still out there. They have others they're willing to listen on. There are teams interested in Whitecloud still, and so on and so on. So this is going to be an interesting summer. That, again, that's the quote from Pagnotta. For Conroy, there's little incentive to force another move, and there you go again. He has the power. He can wait to make the perfect move. It's a perfect situation for him. Calgary has already transformed its future by dealing Anderson to Vegas, Weegs to Utah, Cawdrey to Colorado, and Blake Coleman as well. Those trades left the organization with an enviable stockpile of draft capital, including 30 selections over the coming years and two first-round picks in each of the next three drafts, which, again, is what you want to see. Is that still the case? I thought the Flames traded away some of those for Nemitz, but either way, I could be wrong. As the Hockey News previously reported, that puts the Flames squarely in the driver's seat. Conroy can afford to be patient, wait for the market to develop, and only make another move if the return genuinely strengthens Calgary's long-term outlook. Frost has become one of the more logical trade candidates on Calgary's roster. The 27-year-old is entering the final year of his contract after producing a career-best 22 goals and 43 points last season. Centers are always in demand around the league, and a productive middle six forward on an expiring deal naturally attracts attention. And again, there's no denying that, yeah, it makes sense if the Flames want to trade Frost away for these reasons. Conroy clearly has been a man who, when you have expiring contracts, is willing to move that player out. The only thing with Frost is that it's quite a bit different than some of these other guys. He's younger, and he could be in the plans for the future, for sure, for this team when they're ready. I also don't think he'd be too expensive to acquire. He's in, you know, some commercials now. What's he in? It's for States or something. Is it Pro Hockey Life? Something like that. But either way, you gotta keep a guy like that around, don't you? I don't know. I understand if the Flames want to trade him away. I understand if they definitely want to keep him for the future, especially with how thin the team is and the organization is at center. But again, Conroy has all of the power here. He does not need to force a Frost trade. If there is only underwhelming trade packages available for him, the market isn't what Conroy wants, you do not need to force it, which is a nice change, to be quite honest. Earlier this summer, Frost's name also surfaced among Avalanche fans as a potential trade target if the club had been unable to reacquire Cawdry. Once Cawdry returned to Denver, however, that speculation quickly disappeared, so Frost to Colorado is gone, I guess. Acquired from the Flyers alongside Ferebee a couple seasons ago, Frost has settled into Calgary's middle six while quietly raising his value around the league. Whitecloud has barely unpacked in Calgary, yet trade speculation has followed him ever since he arrived in the Anderson deal. And I gotta be honest, I was guilty of it right away. As soon as Whitecloud was brought in, I thought, oh great, another guy you can just trade away right away. But again, also, can keep him. So much value if you do decide to keep him for the locker room and for the future. The only thing is that we do have that backlog defensively, so maybe it makes more sense to trade him, but again, no one's gonna hate it if he's not, and Craig Conroy has all the power here. He does not need to force it. So the difference is that Conroy doesn't have to answer with a deal like he did with all of these other trades. Some of them home runs, like Lindholm. Some of them may be a little more underwhelming, but either way. Armed with one of the NHL's deepest collections of draft assets and no pressure to shed salary, another great point. The Flames can continue listening while holding firm on their asking prices. If another team gets desperate, Calgary's perfectly positioned to capitalize. If not, there's little downside to standing pat until the right opportunity presents itself. And that's what it comes down to. Again, Calgary is perfectly positioned. Craig Conroy is perfectly positioned. You don't need to force a trade. You don't need to, you know, have the market be so underwhelming. And obviously, you don't need to retain salary. The Flames don't really have any horrible contracts left other than, of course, Huberto, but I mean, trading that away would genuinely be a miracle at this point. The contract, not Huberto. I got flack for saying one bad thing about Huberto in the last video, but either way, don't get me wrong. I love Huberto. It's the only jersey I have of a current player. But either way, perfect situation for the Flames. Conroy is there. Absolutely love to see it. Now let's get into the comment of the day to wrap up this video, as we love to do here on the channel. Comes from the most recent video, of course. And this one here comes from good old guitar memoir saying someone thinks Nemitz is our best player. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Obviously that coming with Nemitz being the only Flame listed in the top 200 players in the league, which I think is a little harsh, but still our best player is a guy who is very unproven and hasn't played a single game in the franchise. I continue by saying I was feeling a little forlorn about the last season at the Dome. Then I looked it up in the Corral, which was the largest rink west of Toronto when it was built in 1950. Served Calgary for 33 years before we got the Dome. We've had the Dome for 42 years now. It was time. And it certainly is. The Dome has all of that nostalgia, and it looks so cool because of its shape. But when it really comes down to it for fan experience, for, you know, just the organization itself, they do need a new building. So it definitely is time as sad as it is and as, you know, nostalgia based as the Dome will always be. It's the last season. We'll make the best of it, but it definitely is time to get that new arena. Thank you so much for watching this video. Please subscribe if you'd like what you saw here today and have a wonderful rest of your day.