Flames Hint at Potential Moves at the Draft

On June 15th, 2012 Craig Conroy gave a fairly extensive interview (37+ minutes) with Sportsnet. He hinted at possible moves the Flames may make at the draft.

• Feaster is working very hard trying to get a 2nd round pick in the background
• The Flames may be trading down for more picks
• The Flames may eat a expensive contract if it means meeting their goals

There is no reason to doubt Conroy, he is an excellent source as the Special Assistant to the General Manager and as close to the decision makers as you can get.

The interview is linked here if you would like to listen to the entire Sportsnet interview. The bulk of the interview is retrospect on the process of hiring Martin Gelinas as Assistant Coach. In two spots Conroy makes some interesting comments on what the Flames are working toward for Draft Day and July 1.

Conroy reveals how Feaster is constantly working the phones everyday in the background with all the other GMs. The first hint comes at about the 15:00 - 16:30 mark of the interview that the Flames have Cap room and may be willing to eat a expensive player for the right return back to the Flames. The trade has to work for the Flames though.

That may send a minor earthquake through our readers but Feaster & Conroy are limited in what they can do, one of the few advantages the Flames have is money and Owners who will spend to the Cap. They may be able to eat a older but serviceable player with a expensive contract and get a 2nd round pick back as well.

The Flames essentially may do their version of the Regehr trade in reverse.

Conroy hints at wanting that 2nd round pick back now. No promises on anything happening but the Flames will make moves if they are there. The Flames have the coaching search done at this point and are really focusing on the draft and potential moves.

Conroy immediately interrupts the interview on the topic of draft picks, the Flames WANT picks and it appears we will see nothing significant going out for the Flames on this front unless more are brought in.

Conroy also talks about the tough position the Flames are in because they really lack attractive assets to move out. The Flames don't have "enough to give" - reading between the lines here. The moving Kipper and Iggy crowd are probably going to be disappointed to hear that.

Conroy is quoted on Jarome as saying "Jarome holds all the cards" so there will not likely be a big trade for the Flames this off-season.

The interview meanders off at this point on the Kings, Penguins, Darryl Sutter and his fist pump etc… Darryl as a coach, Conroy's experience with the Kings, Conroy is sad he won't win a Cup as a player etc...

The interview gets back on track and interesting, in the predictive sense, again at ~ 33:00 - 34:00 min mark. The Flames will take the best player available at 14th overall, if they keep it and will not take a Goalie. Nice little background on the 1st round pick, Chris Snow has been doing work on the draft. Philly seems to hit it all the time and there was a flip on the Flames list at the last second last year to get Sven and Button made the call.

At this point the interview suddenly cuts out.

_______________

Conclusions:

• Reading between the lines on Conroy's comments that the Flames lack "attractive assets" seems to close the door on any big Jbo - Iginla - Kipper trades this off-season. So don't expect that.
• Eating a expensive player in a trade is something the Flames are considering going into the draft if the trade works. I found that to be an interesting comment.
• Trading down to get multiple picks is not something Conroy explicitly stated but if the Flames really want to recover a 2nd round pick, given the nature of this draft, it is a option they may be considering.

Feaster in a separate presser certainly did not take the trading down option off the table.

Are we prepared to trade down? I'm having conversations with teams all the time in terms of trying to improve our hockey team. Depending upon what assets we might get back there… ~ Jay Feaster, June 18, 2012 (Quoted from Flames Nation)

Conroy stated that all options are on the table, so no one should see the above points as anything more than goals or options the Flames are considering going into the draft and off-season.

Poll question for M&G readers today is trading down to acquire multiple picks. Should the Flames move their 14th overall to a lower 1st round pick and gain others as well?

An example of a past trade that will give you an idea of the value of higher picks for lower picks is the Leafs / Ducks trade on June 24th, 2011 where Toronto dealt the #30 overall and #39 overall for the Ducks 1st round pick at #22 overall. IF the Flames move the 14th overall, they would get much more than that.

If the Flames move #14 overall, which is fairly high, they may be able to get a very low 1st and two 2nd round picks and even a 3rd.