One thing I am curious about is time.
Treliving was well known to be a work a holic. What Conroy inherited would probably be 3-5x more than a typical GM's workload. He's been non stop.
Conroy tried to make trades all off season for several players but the only one that made sense was Toffoli. The prices weren't good enough for the others.
Then he went into contract negotiations with about half a dozen players. Some signed, some didn't (ie: lindholm, Hanifin, Tanev, Z etc).
Then I guess he started settling into his role and sorting out a new approach along with all the new management and coaching newbies.
Early season, we know several teams start poking around into the Flames players. Mainly lindholm, Tanev and Hanifin.
The first to fall was Z with several teams inquiring. This was actually kinda of a surprise in how early the trade was consummated. Canucks winning and Toronto rumored to be a finalist along with inquiring on other players. It seemed like Canucks got a deal, timing seemed to affect it.
Compared to crappy prices in the off season, flames suddenly seem like the belle of the ball with the highest calibre players for positions in high demand (LD, RD, C).
Lindholm goes next at the end of January. Again, surprisingly early. Canucks again. Rumor is 6-8 teams inquired to a relatively serious level. 20-25% of teams inquired which seems crazy high. But Winnipeg takes Monahan soon after for a high price which seems to support this desperate demand for a top 6 C.
Flames fans were expecting lindholm, Tanev and Hanifin to use up all the retention spots. Suddenly there's either an extra slot, or more proof flames ownership hate green lighting retention.
All eyes now on Tanev and Hanifin. Tanev is well known to have had non stop interest. Hanifin front is more quiet in comparison minus reports that contact discussions have resumed. Conroy must be talking nonstop, even for his normal standards.
Out of the blue Markstrom rumors pop up with a high level of smoke. I'm going to ignore the Andersson stuff. Assuming that Conroy had been working non stop and these discussions are legit, how does NJD convince Conroy to spend so much time on an unexpected side quest in Markstrom vs two primary quests? It's a ton of extra work for Conroy when he had his plate totally full.
The pieces discussed seem like a lot more than I and many other flames fans expected, so is Fitz keeping the line open by dangling higher end pieces than expected. Keep in mind a trade with NJD now would be the third move with NJD (Toffoli, DeSimone). Maybe NJD thinks calgary has great pieces that are a good fit calibre, style and cap structure wise?
Fitz wouldn't be the only one thinking similar things because Canucks also have hit up the Flames twice for this season and are still being mentioned as in discussions for another piece (Tanev). NJD rumors is Markstrom, but NJD fans are say they might have interest in other pieces as well.
Timing wise... Are the pieces rumored in the NJD smoke so high echelon because of a bidding war only? Or is there also an extra work premium for doing Markstrom by taking extra time from Tanev and Hanifin? Or is it even more because of retention?
Has there ever been another season where multiple teams hit up a team multiple times to basically in season retool/load up before? Apparently prices sucked in the off season, now a few months later teams are fighting tooth and claw and desperate for flames wares because it's the best the market has to offer? Weird.