Q&A: Flames GM Craig Conroy on deadline plans amid surprising playoff hunt

LOS ANGELES — Nestled in the thick of a playoff race no one thought possible for his club, Craig Conroy’s desire to land a capable young centre has only intensified.

Faced with the very real possibility Connor Zary will miss significant time with a knee injury suffered Tuesday, the need has only been heightened.

So, pray tell, does he feel like he is, or has been, close to landing the middleman he’s searching for?

“Not really,” said the Calgary Flames general manager in a wide-ranging one-on-one in California for a mid-season sum-up.

“Because of the age we’re looking for (he wants a 23 to 25-year-old), and where we’re at, it’s tough.

“Everyone feels like they're in the fight here, and that complicates the process. Every staff is asking, ‘are we adding or are we selling? What's the best path moving forward?’”

So, sitting just one point back of a wild-card berth, where do the Flames sit in terms of being buyers or sellers at the deadline?  

“We're definitely looking,” said Conroy, trying to thread the needle between chasing a playoff spot while rebuilding.

“You're always looking to add and make your team better, but not for one year, not for four or six months.

"It has got to be a deal that makes sense moving forward and helps the organization. 

“We’re just a point out of the playoffs, so I guess when we get closer to the deadline (March 7) we'll see.”

Fair enough, the team’s performance over the next few months will clarify their approach.

“Both divisions are so tight, and so many teams feel like if they go on a little bit of a run, they're right back in it — we feel the same,” said Conroy, who points out one of his priorities is to see some of his minor-league prospects playing in the bigs. 

“Last year I think it was pretty clear with all our UFAs, we kind of knew where our lot in life was, battling to try to get back into it but couldn't make up ground.

“This year is a little trickier because we’re right in it.”

Edited for brevity, here is more from our chat:

SPORTSNET: How would you categorize the first half?

CRAIG CONROY: I think very, very positive. Whether it's the goaltending situation, Kevin Bahl meshing well with (Rasmus) Andersson, some of the young guys like (Matthew) Coronato, or (Jonathan) Huberdeau and (Nazem) Kadri finding chemistry, it’s all been very positive.

(MacKenzie) Weegar has had a great start to the season, playing tons of minutes every night. The young guys are progressing, and every game is tighter than I want, but it’s great for their learning curve.

SN: What was the key to your team’s great start? 

CC: It started with the leadership group right at the golf tournament. 

Everybody wanted to kind of stir the pot, get it going, and they really shut it down. I give them a lot of credit. Kadri and Weegar were the first two, then it was (Blake) Coleman and Backs (Mikael Backlund), and Rasmus and it just snowballed, which was great.

You might have thought we had a better team last year, but the buy-in wasn’t there. (The UFAs) weren’t sure what they wanted, and I get it, everybody's looking out for themselves. This year everybody has bought in.

SN: Having split time evenly between Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf so far, how do you envision your goaltenders will be deployed in the second half? 

CC: They’ve done a great job pushing one another, but I do think we're getting to a point where if one gets on a run, I want to see it.

We're halfway through and every game is so important, if one of these guys could get into the zone and play seven or eight, I'd be happy with that.

SN: How concerned are you about your team’s inability to score?

CC: We really need to find ways to score. We need it from everyone, not one person like some teams. We need it from whoever you consider to be our first line to our fourth line, and the defence jumping up, creating some offence.

I don't think we have pure, pure goal scorers, other than maybe Kadri, so we need (Yegor) 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 has one goal. How do you see the situation unfolding for the pending UFA?

CC: I thought he was doing what we want him to do the other night, which was shoot the puck, try to drive some of the offence. Unfortunately, the two penalties are what they are. But there were some positives there. And just like last year, when he got on that hot streak, you're hoping he can find his game and get back to that level.

SN: With the success of the Wranglers, are you surprised how many guys are knocking on the door for a call-up?

CC: You're hoping. You want to see guys take steps, and for me (William) Stromgren made huge strides last year. He looks like he's back playing the way he did at the end of the year.

(Yan) Kuznetsov is really playing well, as is Solo (Ilya Solovyov). Rory Kerins (21 goals in 34 games) has been unbelievable, and obviously Devin Cooley, who might be the MVP of the American League if it ended today.

And then some of your other guys down there are coming along, like Sam Honzek and Brew (Hunter Brzustewicz).

I know nobody wants to play in the minors, but we want to do the right thing and it just takes time, just like with Zary.

You’ve got to make sure they're ready when they get here, so they're comfortable and they can really show us what they can do at this level. 

SN: Do you envision Justin Kirkland re-signing with your club next year? 

CC: I mean, obviously (his season-ending injury) is devastating. I feel so bad for him, he’s such a great story. We know what he means to the organization. We brought him back for a reason, and he exceeded expectations and deserved everything he got here. 

So we'll see how it goes here, let him get his rehab going, but I'm assuming there's gonna be a real interest in bringing him back next year.