LOS ANGELES — In a playoff race that no one thought was possible for his club, Craig Conroy’s desire to add a capable young center continues unabated.
That need will only intensify with the possibility that Conor Zarri will miss a big game with a knee injury on Tuesday.
So tell me, does he feel like he’s finding or is close to finding the middle man that he’s looking for?
“Not really,” the Calgary Flames general manager said during an extensive one-on-one midseason wrap-up in California.
“It’s difficult because of the age we’re looking for (he wants someone between 23 and 25 years old), and the position we’re in.
“Everyone feels like they’re in a battle, which complicates the whole process. Every employee is asking, ‘Do we add or do we sell? What’s the best path forward?”
So where do the Flames stand as buyers or sellers at the deadline with just one point out of a wild-card spot?
“We’re definitely looking,” said Conroy, who is trying to chase a playoff spot while rebuilding.
“You always want to add and make your team better, but not in a year, not in four or six months.
“It has to be an agreement that makes sense and helps the organization.
“We’re one point away from the playoffs, so I think we’ll see the results as we get closer to the deadline (March 7).”
To be fair, how the team performs in the coming months will shed light on their approach.
“Both divisions are very tight and a lot of teams feel like if they run a little bit more, they’re going to be right back where they were — we feel the same way,” said Conroy, who noted that one of his top priorities is Look at some of his minor league prospects playing in the major leagues.
“Last year, I think all of us as UFAs were very aware of where we were, trying hard to get back into our lives, but there was no way to make amends.
“This year is a little trickier because we’re in the middle of it.”
Edited for brevity, here’s more from our chat:
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SPORTSNET: How would you rate the first half?
Craig Conroy: I think it’s very, very positive. Whether it’s the goaltending situation, Kevin Barr working well with (Rasmus) Andersen, some young guys like (Matthew) Coronato, or (Jonathan) Huberdeau and (Nazem) Kadri looking The chemistry, it was all very positive.
(MacKenzie) Weegar is off to a great start to the season, playing a lot of minutes every night. The young guys are improving and every game is more intense than I would like, but it’s good for their learning curve.
SN: What’s the key to your team’s strong start?
CC: It started with the leadership group of a golf tournament.
Everyone was trying to rock the boat and keep it going, but they really shut it down. I trust them very much. Kadri and Weegar were the top two, and then (Blake) Coleman and Backs (Mikael Backlund) and Rasmus, it just kind of snowballed, which was awesome.
You might have thought we had a better team last year, but we didn’t get the support. (UFA) Not sure what they want, I understand, it’s everybody for themselves. Everyone bought it this year.
SN: With Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf splitting time so far, how do you think the goaltending will be deployed in the second half?
CC: They do a great job of pushing each other, but I do think we’re getting to the point where if someone starts running, I want to see it.
We’re halfway through and every game is so important and if one of those guys can get into that area and play seven or eight games, I’d be happy.
SN: How worried are you about your team not being able to score?
CC: We really need to find ways to score. We need everyone’s help, not just one person like some teams do. Whoever you think is our first through fourth line, we need it, the defense is going to jump up and create some offense.
I don’t think we have a pure goal scorer, other than Kadri, so we need (Egor) Sharangovich and (Andrei) Kuzmenko to hopefully get hot in the second half. That would be huge.
SN: Kuzmenko is a former 39-goal scorer who currently has only 1 goal. What do you think of the pending UFA situation?
CC: I thought he was doing what we wanted him to do that night, which was shoot the ball, try to drive some offense. Unfortunately, that’s what happened with these two penalties. But there are some positives. Like last year, when he has a good streak, you hope he can find his game and get back to that level.
SN: With the Wranglers’ success, are you surprised at how many people are knocking on the door looking for a call-up?
CC: You hope so. You want to see people take action, and to me (William) Stromgren made huge strides last year. He looks like he’s back to the way he was playing at the end of the year.
(Yan) Kuznetsov played really well, Soro (Ilya Solovyov) played really well. Rory Kerins (21 goals in 34 games) has been incredible and of course Devin Cooley, who would probably be if the game ended today Became the MVP of the American League.
Then other people join in, like Sam Honzek and Brew (Hunter Brzustewicz).
I know no one wants to play in the minors but we want to do the right thing and it just takes time, like Zarri.
You have to make sure they’re ready when they get here so they feel comfortable and can really show us what they can do at this level.
SN: Do you expect Justin Kirkland to re-sign with your club next year?
CC: I mean, obviously (his season-ending injury) was devastating. I feel bad for him, he’s a great story. We know what he means to the organization. We brought him back for a reason, he exceeded expectations and deserves everything he gets here.
So we’ll see how things go as he continues to rehab, but I’m assuming there’s going to be someone who’s really interested in bringing him back next year.
