Speculation: Armchair GM 2024-25 Season, Craig Conroy's Can Do Calgary Flames

[Ace Rimmer]

Why's everyone so high on Pelletier?

Is "everyone" in the room with you right now?

Literally the most positive thing I've seen about him recently is "he isn't waiver wire fodder yet"

 

[Bert Mckrakken]

Is "everyone" in the room with you right now?

Literally the most positive thing I've seen about him recently is "he isn't waiver wire fodder yet"

He’s also a gem of a human and easy to cheer for. That helps us want to see him succeed. Plus I think a little bit of PTSD still from St. Louis leaving and having a hell of a career

 

[joescores]

He’s also a gem of a human and easy to cheer for. That helps us want to see him succeed. Plus I think a little bit of PTSD still from St. Louis leaving and having a hell of a career

Honzo deserves his spot in the lineup

 

[Yepthatsme]

There is a lot to be excited about.

I’ve been saying Hunter B was a stud going back to Penticton last year when I thought he was the best player in that tournament.
I thought Zayne played really well the last few games for an 18 year old d. He just needs to get stronger and another year in jr is absolutely the right call.
Honzek has totally surprised me and looks like his ceiling is immense.
Coronato should be a solid 2nd line scorer. 25 g 30 apples type player.
We have a very good future goalie in Wolf.
Zary and Pospisil are going to have solid NHL careers.
Gridin and Basha really showed solid potential.
Kuznetsov and Solovyov are highly underrated dmen who could give us some physicality.
Battaglia, Misa, Lipinski, Morin, Grushnikov, Suniev, Stromgren, Mews, all look like they could be contributors down the line.

This team still needs an elite C prospect. McQueen, Misa, Ryabkin, Hagens, Frondell would really give this team a chance to be a solid contender in a few years. I also think they need a LH defensive d who can shut down the cycle, skate and move pucks like a Hanifin type to play alongside Parekh in the future. Those are the two missing pieces as far as I am concerned. Schaefer or Martone (if Honzek could play C) could fill one of those needs. Basically we need a top 7 pick this year.

It’s definitely been a positive camp but I’ve been positive about this team more than most for a while. But I also still think they have a few big holes to fill.

Honzek-x-Coronato
Basha-Zary-Gridin
Huberdeau-Pospisil-Battaglia
L. Misa-Lipinski-Stromgren
Suniev/Pelletier

X-Parekh
Solovyov-Brewski
Kuznetsov-Mews
Morin/Grushnikov

Wolf

Already a pretty interesting team down the road.

Kevin Bahl would like a word. Seriously though, organizationally he’s probably our best long term bet bet for a partner for Parekh at this moment when in 3-4 years Parekh is coming into his own as a top
Pair defenseman. He has all the tools in spades, just hasn’t been able to put it all together yet. Given our organizations decade+ spanning ability of fixing/producing quality defenseman, I’d bet he’s a good top 4 defenseman for us for a long time, and I’m not ruling out a Bahl-Parekh top pair.

 

[Volica]

They currently have zero first line forwards and zero prospects with first line potential. Hagens is a good not great prospect so even if you are lucky enough to get him you are likely looking at 2 years before you can expect him to reach a first line level and wouldn't have anyone to do the heavy lifting.

Defensively I guess if you squint maybe Andersson is a first pairing guy, but not close to the level that contenders have for their best defenseman and who knows if he is even staying. I love Parekh as a prospect but he is going to take time and might be better as the 2nd best offensive stud on a team rather than a top #1 d that can play in all situations like all SC winners have.

I think even being super delusional it takes a massive amount of squinting to see this team being good anytime soon, and likely the team in the NHL furthest away from being a contender.

No one is expecting Calgary to be a contender next year. The premise here was to build on what Lomberg said. In 3-4 years things will be so dramatically different on this roster, that it wouldn’t shock me if another window is opened by then. The people who are like 5+ years! 5 years ago Calgary won the pacific division and Edmonton and LA were in the basement.

Top line players, honestly, are the easiest parts of the rebuild. You draft them with the 1-6 picks at the draft. What causes the perpetual rebuild are the teams that can’t develop out of the top 10 of a draft and don’t have any foundation. We will have at least two shots in the top of the draft over the next couple seasons.

Weegar is also on this roster, who is an absolute stud. Not just Razzy.

Kevin Bahl would like a word. Seriously though, organizationally he’s probably our best long term bet bet for a partner for Parekh at this moment when in 3-4 years Parekh is coming into his own as a top
Pair defenseman. He has all the tools in spades, just hasn’t been able to put it all together yet. Given our organizations decade+ spanning ability of fixing/producing quality defenseman, I’d bet he’s a good top 4 defenseman for us for a long time, and I’m not ruling out a Bahl-Parekh top pair.

Gotta send Bahl to the Zadorov school of defence masterclass that Sutter did a few years back.

 

[Yepthatsme]

No one is expecting Calgary to be a contender next year. The premise here was to build on what Lomberg said. In 3-4 years things will be so dramatically different on this roster, that it wouldn’t shock me if another window is opened by then. The people who are like 5+ years! 5 years ago Calgary won the pacific division and Edmonton and LA were in the basement.

Top line players, honestly, are the easiest parts of the rebuild. You draft them with the 1-6 picks at the draft. What causes the perpetual rebuild are the teams that can’t develop out of the top 10 of a draft and don’t have any foundation. We will have at least two shots in the top of the draft over the next couple seasons.

Weegar is also on this roster, who is an absolute stud. Not just Razzy.



Gotta send Bahl to the Zadorov school of defence masterclass that Sutter did a few years back.

Ryan Huska deserves a lot of credit there. He was the head coach of our AHL team when the goal was development and was helping produce guys like Andersson and Kylington, but more importantly once he got promoted he was the guy in charge of our defensive group between 2018-23 (as well as our PK, which was 6th in the league across his tenure in the position). Sutter designed the system that made our defense look good (until it didn’t), Huska was the man in charge of developing the defenseman. The guy also knows how to make good defenseman.

 

[MM917]

No one is expecting Calgary to be a contender next year. The premise here was to build on what Lomberg said. In 3-4 years things will be so dramatically different on this roster, that it wouldn’t shock me if another window is opened by then. The people who are like 5+ years! 5 years ago Calgary won the pacific division and Edmonton and LA were in the basement.

Top line players, honestly, are the easiest parts of the rebuild. You draft them with the 1-6 picks at the draft. What causes the perpetual rebuild are the teams that can’t develop out of the top 10 of a draft and don’t have any foundation. We will have at least two shots in the top of the draft over the next couple seasons.

Weegar is also on this roster, who is an absolute stud. Not just Razzy.



Gotta send Bahl to the Zadorov school of defence masterclass that Sutter did a few years back.

I think we are certainly looking at a minimum of 5 years before we are anything more than first participants and we might not even get that the next five years.

We don’t have a good prospect pool, do t have good young talent and have t shown a good job getting talent in the draft or in trades. We are a long way off from being ok, let alone good. This is a bad roster, with bad coaching and highly questionable management.