Q&A: Craig Conroy most intrigued by Flames’ goalie battle at training camp

PENTICTON – Ask Craig Conroy what he believes will be the most intriguing battle at training camp, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“The goalies,” said the Calgary Flames GM, who traded longtime starter Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey this summer. 

“With Marky gone, the job is wide open, and these guys know this is as good an opportunity as they’re ever going to have to show what they can do and become an NHL starter. 

“Maybe I’m putting a lot of pressure on them, but look, they have to do what they have to do and prove, ‘this is my job.’”

Conroy will be fascinated to see if Dan Vladar is able to bounce back from hip surgery to prove he’s capable of carrying the load, or if Dustin Wolf is ready to translate his AHL success into a sizable NHL workload.

Or will free agent signing Devin Cooley shock everyone?

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In a wide-ranging sit down at the team’s YoungStars tourney in the South Okanagan, the second-year GM spoke to Sportsnet about everything from the team’s underdog mentality and expectations, to its revamped blue line, the debate over which young winger will move to centre and the possibility of weaponizing cap space.

SPORTSNET: Most people in the hockey world believe the playoffs aren’t a possibility for your team this year – what is the team’s mindset going into the season?

CRAIG CONROY: We’re going in with that underdog mentality.

We hear where everybody puts us, but that’s outside noise. Internally we have a belief that we’ve got really good veterans, and we have some young players that want to prove themselves, and they’re hungry.

This group is disappointed with the way things went last year.

There was a lot of outside noise last year with all the UFAs, and that’s what we’re trying to move past and come together as a team.

We’re going to need everyone to take a step for us to get to where we want to go. Playoffs are obviously the goal. 

It’s going to take all 20 guys every night, sticking together, being a team, and being competitive.

SN: Last year, Matt Coronato’s stellar pre-season helped him make the team out of camp. Is there room for another young prospect to make that jump right away?

CC: If they’re the best player, you have to find a way to make room. It’s not easy, but I’d rather have the job be hard, because that’s a good thing. That means somebody’s doing something that’s made you notice. You want everyone to take a step and someone to shine, someone to show us. 

Unfortunately, we had two long-term injuries right away last year to (Jakob) Pelletier and (Kevin) Rooney, and it gave an opportunity for other guys, like (Connor) Zary and (Martin) Pospisil.

So just because it looks like maybe there’s not room on paper, you don’t know how that’s going to play out. 

SN: Zary and Pospisil were so good last year on Nazem Kadri’s wing, but given your need to find another impact centre, which one do you expect will be the one to move from wing to centre?

CC: That’s up to the coaches, but I’ve talked to Zar and Posp, and they both want to play centre. That’s a position we’d like to add and they feel like they’re centres by nature. 

It’s nice that both those guys can play both positions. 

SN: We’ve always known Zary was a centre, but what are the merits of taking Pospisil off of the wing and putting him in the middle like his national team did with him this summer?

CC: Oh, the speed. I mean, how much he can create through the middle of the ice the way he gets on forechecks. It’s going to be more work defensively, but he’s in great shape. He’s a skater, so he can help support, but then when it’s time to go on offence, he can beat guys up the ice. He’s also hard to play against, and when he’s out there, you have to keep your head up because he’s going to finish his checks. 

The coaches have got different line combinations every day, so we’ll see how it goes. 

SN: How would you describe your revamped blue line?

CC: Younger, not as many games.

I think with (Tyson) Barrie coming in (on a PTO), he’s going to push. 

But we have guys who want to prove themselves too.

I think with the ACL injury he came back from last year, this will be the true test for (Daniil) Miromanov.

I liked what he did down the stretch, and now he’s had a whole summer to train. I thought he and (MacKenzie) Weegar were really good together. 

But now we’re gonna see him when he’s that much stronger. You want to see the chemistry Kevin Bahl might have with Rasmus (Andersson) or someone else.

It’s always about chemistry. So I think this camp’s going to be a real learning curve for our coaches, for our players, to see what kind of mix works. 

On the back end, it’s about opportunity.

The power play ended well last year, but wasn’t anywhere near where we wanted, so we need to find the right people there. Most of our penalty killing was good, but we want to continue with that.

SN: Is it your intention to weaponize the almost $20 million in cap space you have this season by perhaps trading for a bad contract or two in exchange for more assets?

CC: We’ve tried to get in on a few deals earlier, but they didn’t work out. Everybody wants to try to do it. What’s the cost? What’s the price? When is the right time? If there’s an opportunity, we’re definitely open to that for sure.

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