Flames ‘making calls’ to improve team offensively: report

So, uh, things are not going great for the Calgary Flames, friends.

The Flames have begun their season with a 1-6-1 record. They have not won a game in regulation yet. They have been out-scored 29-13, and when you factor out their shootout win, they’ve scored a dozen goals over eight games.

So it probably won’t shock you to learn that the Flames are looking for ways to improve offensively, which may involve the trade market. The topic came up on Thursday’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, with Mark Roe and Pierre LeBrun having this exchange:

Mark Roe: Pierre, what’s the current mood in Calgary?

Pierre LeBrun: Yeah, listen, there’s a lot of frustration with the Flames organization about their lack of scoring. 32nd in the NHL right now, 1.5 goals per game. Mind-boggling, and frankly it’s not a new problem. They were 29th in the league in scoring a year ago. So it’s a problem that continues. GM Craig Conroy isn’t sitting on his hands. He is making calls and exploring the trade market, trying to find out what exactly is available out there that could potentially help his team offensively. Easier said than done. We’re so early in the season. Teams normally aren’t ready to engage in this type of trade activity yet, not until US Thanksgiving, but certainly Calgary trying to get an early look at what’s out there.

The Flames are in the midst of a youth movement, folks, and so we would not expect them to send assets out the door in an effort to salvage the season. If we’re being honest, that ship has probably sailed. However, if there are hockey trades to be had that help the Flames both now and in the future, they would probably consider them. (Y’know how they traded for Morgan Frost, a young centre, midway through last season? Something along those lines probably wouldn’t hurt the Flames’ future plans and would help them in the short-term, too.)

In the meantime, the Flames will seek to score some goals and win some games while their general manager will do his level best to help them in both the short and longer-term windows.

The Flames are in Winnipeg on Friday night to visit the Jets.