CALGARY — The Calgary Flames’ silence on the opening day of free agency is all part of the plan, said Craig Conroy.
In fact, he figures it sends a powerful message to the bevy of youngsters he’s counting on to push the organization forward this fall.
“There were people we targeted, and once those guys were gone, we've always said we have a plan and we have to stick to it,” said the Calgary Flames GM Tuesday afternoon.
“We can't deviate just because other teams are signing players. We still have our young players and I think even though we haven't done anything, you're going to see more opportunity for our (young) guys and better competition. If I'm a young player right now, sitting at home thinking, ‘huh, they haven't done much, I'm going to work even harder this summer, because I want to make that team.’ So it sends a little bit of a message to our young guys.”
Conroy’s focus, as preached since he took over the team almost three years ago, is to retool the club by giving youngsters the type of opportunities that have uncovered the talents of Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil and Adam Klapka so far.
“You'd rather see a young guy get an opportunity in a spot than a veteran guy that maybe has played eight or 10 years in the league, and he's a good player, but where's the upside going to be?” asked Conroy.
“And I know it's not exciting for the fans that we didn’t (make moves), but I think you'd like to see the young guys that we've been bringing up as we've gone along.
“There's going to be a time when we are going to go out and identify guys, and get guys because we're right there, but to do it right now just for the sake of doing it, because today's free agency, it just doesn't make sense.”
Hanley stays put
An exception to that plan, in Conroy’s mind, involved the decision to re-sign 34-year-old defenceman Joel Hanley just before free agency opened Tuesday morning.
Hanley went from being a healthy scratch the first two months last season to being a fixture in the top four down the stretch, playing important minutes for a team lucky to have him as an insurance policy of sorts.
On the left side, the Flames have Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean, Ilya Solovyov and Hanley on one-way deals, with Artyom Grushnikov and Etienne Morin pushing to crack the lineup. MacKenzie Weegar is a righty who can also play the left side.
“We needed some more depth back there, if you have any injuries,” said Conroy, who will pay Hanley $1.75 million in each of the next two years.
“As much as we have a lot of depth at forward, on defence, there are good young players, but maybe not as many.
“We know what he can do with Weeger, and he can play all up and down that lineup. And the way he is in the room, and the kind of person he is, it just made perfect sense to us.”
Later in the day, the Flames inked left-shot defenceman Nick Cicek to a one-year, two-way contract for $775,000. The six-foot-three, 200-pound 25-year-old had three goals and 14 assists in 50 games with Mannheim of the DEL last season.
Dan Vladar is Philly bound
His numbers weren’t stellar, but given how effectively he was able to shield Dustin Wolf from the toughest starts last season, Dan Vladar played an important role for the Flames last season.
However, despite efforts to re-sign the 28-year-old backup to make roughly 20 starts this season behind Wolf, Vladar chose to pursue a starting gig in Philadelphia, signing a two-year deal for $3.35 million annually.
It made him the Flyers' highest-paid goalie, ahead of Ivan Fedotov ($3.275 million) and Samuel Ersson ($1.45 million).
“He wants to be a starter, and feels like Dustin came in and kind of stole that spot,” said Conroy, who said he was on the verge of signing another goaltender (which turned out to be KHLer Ivan Prosvetov) to battle Devin Cooley for the backup gig this fall.
“Dan did a great job for us, but I think he thought there was more opportunity out there. And obviously Philly was a spot that he felt was right for him.”
Rasmus Andersson trade updates
Despite ongoing reports of scuttled trade talks involving Rasmus Andersson, Craig Conroy hinted strongly that he’s serious about bringing the Swedish defenceman back this fall unless a trade meets the Flames' demands.
“I'm not stressed or feel pressure about it, and we actually need Rasmus to be here and be a good player for us,” said Conroy, who said he hasn’t given Andersson’s agent permission to talk to other teams, and denied a report suggesting Andersson has backed the Flames into a corner by picking just one team (Vegas) he’d agree to a sign and trade deal.
“No, right now he's totally fine with playing for the Calgary Flames. That was the last conversation, and he's always said that he's a Calgary Flame.
“When he comes back in September, he'll say the same thing to you guys, ‘I love it here.’ Until something's done, nothing's done.”
Although Andersson has just six teams on a no-trade list, does he feel players have too much leverage in a situation like this with one year left on their contracts?
“Well, they've earned all that,” said Conroy, adding his perspective as a former player.
“If they have a no-trade list, they get those teams, and if teams want to actually make a sign and trade, they have to agree to that too. So they do have leverage, for sure, but you just have to decide when’s the right time.”
