But for Conroy, the improvement cannot be merely to qualify for the playoffs in the 2026-27, the final campaign at the Scotiabank Saddledome. He preached sustainability, keying on long-term success, adding his team’s Draft capital this summer will certainly help that cause.
The Flames will learn their Draft Lottery fate May 5 - and will have no lower than the No. 6 selection with their pick - but Calgary will also head into the last weekend of June in Buffalo with six selections in the first two rounds of this year’s Draft.
“We're going to get a very good player, one to six,” said Conroy. “I’ve been out scouting. I'm very excited about the top six players, 'cause I know we're going to be (getting) one of those.
“If we get one of the top six players in that draft, I'm going to be very happy. And I think the people here are going to be very happy.”
In the short term, both Huska and Conroy were optimistic about the late-season showings by youngsters Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin. Parekh played 22 or more minutes in each of Calgary’s last four games, positioning himself on the top defensive pairing at season’s end.
Gridin had 13 points over his last 19 games once the Trade Deadline passed, good for a fourth-place tie among the Flames’ scoring leaders over that stretch.
“They did some good things. I saw some real progress, which is exciting,” said Conroy. “And then we're going to need to see more.
“There's going to be growing pains next year. I don't expect the finished product from some of our young guys, but I want them to take another step.”
But both Huska and Conroy acknowledged, too, that to heap pressure on the rookie duo would be unfair, pointing instead to that ‘mid-range’ group of players, the mid-20s skaters led by 20-goal men Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and the team’s leading point-getter, Matt Coronato as being big components of the club’s future success.
“He also has to understand that he is in that group that's going to have to drive his team forward,” Huska said of Coronato, adding he figures the sophomore winger could have had 10 more goals this season with a bit more puck luck. “With a little bit more leadership, there's a little bit more responsibility when it comes with it. And I think those guys (Coronato, Frost and Farabee) are ready for it, and they need to be ready for it.”
“We need more scoring from within, first and foremost,” Conroy added. “We’re going to challenge all the guys that are there, that we need more from each and every one of them. I challenged Frost already. He should be a 60-point guy in this league, maybe 80, with the skill he has and what he does.
So we're challenging all of them, and he's even challenging himself. I mean, if he was sitting here, he'd tell you the same thing. He's happy with 20 goals probably, but now we want him to be happy with 30 goals, and we're going to need to get more from each guy.”
Challenge accepted.
And through it all, management, coaches and veterans alike pointed to the fact this team competed right to the final buzzer as proof positive that a new culture is being built. A new identity following a season that saw popular veterans say their goodbyes.
But with that identity, there’s also an acknowledgement that each and every player needs to be pulling on the same rope, together, in order to improve next year, and get the Flames back to where everyone wants them to be.
In the playoffs.
Consistently.
“Listen, the strength of our team is the team,” said Huska. “We don't win games based on, I think, one or two individual players.
‘We’re not at that stage right now in where we are.”
