Calgary Flames laying solid foundations through 2024 and '25 drafts
Kevin Bahl described it as 'building the base of the pyramid.'
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When he watched the Florida Panthers grind down every opponent in the playoffs en route to winning the Stanley Cup for a second straight year this spring, he saw a lot of similarities to what the Calgary Flames are trying to do.
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The relentless forecheck and physicality the Panthers bring to the rink every night are attributes the Flames are trying to emulate. There's a difference in experience and the skill the champions have at their disposal, of course, but Bahl believes the Panthers' approach isn't all that different from the style of play the Flames tried to implement this past season.
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There's a long way for the Flames to go before anyone is comparing the two teams, but hopefully, the foundations are being laid.
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'We're trying, obviously everybody right now wants to be the Florida Panthers,' Conroy said. 'It's hard to be the Florida Panthers, they did have first-overall picks, they had some unbelievable players, Billy Zito did an amazing job with trades, bringing in guys, getting guys to sign there and stay. They built that culture and we're trying to build that culture, we want people who want to be here and I agree with Kevin. That's the ultimate goal, is to be like them.
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How far along are the Flames after this weekend's NHL Draft? After dealing away so many veterans in 2023 and 2024, we can take last year's draft as a useful starting point. That's where Conroy started building again after he'd spent much of his first year as GM dismantling the previous era by trading away the likes of Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin and Jacob Markstrom.
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With two first-round picks in each of the 2024, '25 and '26 drafts, these three years will ideally be where the foundations are laid for building a future contender. There will be key pieces — like Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Dustin Wolf — who were acquired prior to '24, but these three drafts are crucial to how the Flames will look over the next decade.
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Two-thirds of the way in, how has it gone?
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