Iginla supports 'fiery' Conroy as next Flames GM: 'He'd do a great, great job'

The Calgary Flames and former general manager Brad Treliving mutually parted ways earlier this month, and the team’s new president of hockey operations and interim GM, Don Maloney, has a big decision to make in the near future.

One name that has been mentioned as a potential successor to Treliving is Flames assistant GM and former team captain Craig Conroy. Hockey Hall of Famer and Flames great Jarome Iginla certainly thinks his former teammate is an ideal candidate for the role and will be cheering him on.

“We’re really good friends, so I guess that’s a disclaimer, but he’s so passionate about hockey and the Calgary Flames,” Iginla said Tuesday during an appearance on Sportsnet 960. “I texted him the other day, and he’s always somewhere. Right now, he’s in Switzerland at the U18s, a month ago I texted him and he was in Penticton (scouting). … I think he’d do a great, great job.”

Conroy, who was coached by and has worked with Calgary bench boss Darryl Sutter, began his front office career with the Flames almost immediately after he ended his playing career during the 2010-11 season, and has been assistant GM since 2014. He knows the organization inside out, from top to bottom.

“He’s a guy who’s great for relationships – I’ve never heard a person say a bad word about him – and in that type of role, it’s relationships all over,” Iginla said, before adding with a chuckle, “he can also be very fiery.”

As Sportsnet’s Eric Francis wrote last week, “there’s no denying Conroy would be the popular choice around town, based on his resume, history in the city and his radiant personality that could inject some much-needed positivity.”

Francis added on Monday that sources told him “several key players made it abundantly clear in their exit interviews with Maloney and Treliving that the environment in which they are working is untenable.”

Iginla witnessed firsthand the type of leader Conroy was both on and off the ice during their roughly nine years as teammates on the Flames.

“He’d always talk hockey and he got to play with some really good teams and players: the St. Louis Blues, when they were the Presidents’ Trophy winners, and then came to Calgary and was a big leader on our team,” Iginla explained. “He was always a guy that cared about everybody, and it’s so important for a team because some guys come (to the rink) and they work and are focused and lead by example, some guys they’re great personalities around the room, great jokesters and bring a team together that way. (Conroy) was a combination of both. He worked really hard, he was committed to it, but he was always a glue guy. He always knew what was going on with everybody in their lives and made them feel a part of the locker room, and if someone wasn’t feeling good, he’d find ways to pick them up.”

Conroy, who was a finalist for the Buffalo Sabres GM job several years ago, is by no means the only viable candidate Maloney will consider. If endorsements from elite Flames alumni count for anything, though, Conroy seems to have a slight leg up on the competition.

“He’s a great competitor, played a thousand games, he’s a very smart hockey person,” Iginla added. “I’m excited. I really hope he gets it. I think he’d do a great job. He loves Calgary.”