On Monday, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that Dave Nonis and Jarome Iginla would join newly-named Calgary Flames’ GM Craig Conroy’s staff.
Nonis joins after nearly winning Conroy’s job and will have a major role in Calgary’s front office.
Though his stints as GM of Toronto and later as an executive in Anaheim were not terribly successful, Nonis’s experience in higher management should be valuable to Conroy, a first-time NHL GM.
Iginla’s addition is newsworthy as he is perhaps the Flames’ greatest-ever player. A quintessential power forward, Iginla holds franchise records for games played (1,219), goals (525), and points (1,095). He notched 625 career goals during one of the NHL’s lowest-scoring periods and joined the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020.
The former Ted Lindsay Award winner will return to the Flames’ employ for the first time since being traded to Pittsburgh in 2013. He will join in an advisory capacity.
Between Iginla and Conroy, who was also a beloved Flame during his playing days, Calgary’s front office will have no shortage of credibility with the team’s fans. That could be valuable in the wake of Daryl Sutter’s second stint on the Flames’ bench, which left a sour taste.
Calgary fired Sutter shortly after the departure of GM Brad Treliving, who left the team after nearly a decade at the helm. Treliving hired Conroy as his assistant in 2014, but he and Sutter left his one-time protege in a precarious position going into 2023-2024.
Calgary has much of its cap space tied into underperforming veterans Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and Jacob Markstrom. Those questionable contracts combine with a bevy of expiring deals to leave the Flames, who won the Pacific Division just a season ago, wondering where they stand in a rapidly-improving Western Conference.
Though Conroy brought in valuable reinforcements in the form of Nonis and Iginla, rehabbing an aging, expensive Calgary roster remains a colossal task. The 51-year-old will start by finding Sutter’s replacement.
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