Grading every trade Craig Conroy has made with the Flames: part 1

I hope Craig Conroy knew what he was getting himself into when he took on the job as General Manager of the Calgary Flames in May of 2023 because his predecessor, Brad Treliving, left behind an organization in a state of disarray. The team was reeling from losing Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau within a couple weeks of each other. Veteran players wanted out. There were seven veteran pending UFAs to deal with (Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Backlund, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, and Oliver Kylington). The prospect cupboards were bare outside of Dustin Wolf and Matt Coronato. The core group of the team was old and on large contracts. And the culture in the dressing room needed some serious work. Turning this franchise around was going to be a massive undertaking for Conroy. The good news for Flames fans is that Conroy was ready to work and he's done a great job of turning over the roster and bringing stability back to the Calgary Flames. Some of the most important work Conroy has come with the trades he's made. In total, Conroy has completed 21 deals over his first three years in the GM's chair. I am going to hand out letter grades (A, B, C, or D) for each trade over the course of a five part series. For the sake of efficiency, I am only going to grade the 15 NHL trades Conroy has made. Pick swaps at the draft and minor league trades will not be evaluated. I'll be breaking these deals down with a mix of analysis from the time the deal was made and then with some hindsight now that we've had some time to see how they've worked out for the Flames. We'll go in chronological order and kick things off with the Tyler Toffoli trade. To New Jersey: Tyler Toffoli To Calgary: Yegor Sharangovich, 2023 3rd Round Pick (Aydar Suniev) At the time, this wasn't a bad deal for the Flames. 31 year old wingers with one year remaining on their contracts were not going for much on the trade market at the time. Guys like Taylor Hall, Max Pacioretty and Oliver Bjorkstrand were going for little to nothing or late round picks. To get an NHL winger with upside and a third round pick in return for Toffoli was a decent return. Sharangovich got off to a slow start with the Flames but then took off in the second half of the 2023-24 season. in his final 46 games, Sharangovich scored a team leading 20 goals and 37 points. That incredible finish to the season earned Sharangovich a five year contract extension worth $5.75 million per year. In hindsight, Conroy prematurely signed Sharangovich that extension. The combination of his strong finish to the season and the fact he wanted to stay in Calgary during a time where that wasn't the case for a lot of players led the Flames GM to offer that contract. The 2023 3rd round pick turned into skilled winger Aydar Suniev who is coming off his first year in professional hockey. Suniev has shown flash of brilliance and has the potential to be a full time NHL player one day. Overall, the return for Toffoli was decent. Had Conroy traded Sharangovich after his 31 goal career year, this deal would have got an A. But unfortunately Sharangovich's contract hasn't worked out the way the Flames had hoped. Because of that, I give this trade a C+ I'm starting an article series for @dfocalgary where I am going to be giving out a letter grade for every trade Craig Conroy has made. And I want your input. What grade would you give his first deal? To NJD: Tyler Toffoli To CGY: Yegor Sharangovich, 2023 3rd RD Pick (Suniev) — Robert Munnich (@Robert_Munnich) September 4, 2026 To Vancouver: Nikita Zadorov To Calgary: 2026 3rd Round Pick (Joe Iginla), 2024 5th Round Pick (Traded for Nikita Okhotiuk) Context matters when it comes to breaking down the Zadorov trade to Vancouver. Zadorov requested a trade out of Calgary after a 5-4 shootout loss in Toronto on Nov. 10, 2023. This kind of move put Conroy in a difficult situation as the Flames GM lost his leverage. Teams interested in Zadorov knew Conroy wanted to move him as soon as possible as he was public enemy number one in the Flames locker room. 20 days later, Zadorov was traded to the Canucks for third and fifth round picks. An underwhelming return for a perfect playoff player: a huge, physical defenceman that can skate. Conroy likely could have got more for Zadorov if he moved him closer to the trade deadline where more teams would have been in the mix for his services. But he had to get Zadorov out of that dressing room after pulling off a stunt like he did. Zadorov went on to be a big part of a Canucks team that went to game 7 of the second round and went on to sign a 6 year, $30 million deal with Boston. I am going to show some sympathy when it comes to grading this trade because of the tough position Zadorov and his agent put Conroy in. Conroy was in a tough spot, but at the same time we do need to acknowledge the fact the draft picks acquired were underwhelming. And they turned them into Joe Iginla, who most scouting services didn't have ranked, and Nikita Okhotiuk who played in only nine games with the Flames before signing in the KHL. You could argue that this was one of the worst trade of Conroy's tenure. What letter grade would you give Craig Conroy for the Nikita Zadorov trade? To Vancouver – Nikita Zadorov To Calgary – 2026 3rd Round Pick (Joe Iginla) – 2024 5th Round Pick (Traded for Nikita Okhotiuk) To Vancouver: Elias Lindholm To Calgary: Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, 2024 1st Round Pick (Matvei Gridin) and a 2024 4th Round Pick (Turned into Luke Misa) Talk about a home run return for Conroy and the Flames. The Calgary GM was able to turn three and a half months of Elias Lindholm into five assets. Kuzmenko was part of the trade that brought Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to Calgary. Brzustewicz is one of the best defencemen in the Flames prospect system who showed he can play in the NHL last season. Gridin looks like a lock to be in the Flames top six forward group for the next 10+ years. On top of that, the Flames avoided giving Lindholm an unfavourable eight year contract extension. You combine all those things together and you have the makings of one of the most one sided trades within the last few years in the NHL What letter grade would you give Craig Conroy for the Elias Lindholm trade? To Calgary: Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, 2024 1st RD Pick (Matvei Gridin), 2024 4th RD Pick (Luke Misa) — Robert Munnich (@Robert_Munnich) September 5, 2026 This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.