While Kent Hughes is working hard to rebuild the Montreal Canadiens, there are a lot of other GMs in the league that are trying to do exactly the same thing for their own team. Amongst those who are looking to acquire younger talent is Craig Conroy from the Calgary Flames.
Speaking to Jim Biringer from Bookmaker, Conroy who’s aiming for a retool on the fly or in former GM Marc Bergevin’s words “a reset”, confessed his job is harder this year on the trade market. He’s shopping to improve his lineup, but thanks to the 2022 trade which sent Sean Monahan and a conditional first-round pick to the Canadiens in return of future consideration, the GM finds himself in a world of uncertainty.
The problem for Conroy is that he finds himself with two first-round picks which are tied up to the aforementioned trade. The one they acquirer from the Florida Panthers in the Matthew Tkachuk deal will be theirs unless it ends up being the first of second overall pick of the draft (an highly unlikely scenario given the fact the Panthers are currently second overall in the NHL).
Unless the Flames’ own first-round pick ends up being a top-ten pick, the Canadiens will receive the better of Calgary’s and Florida’s first-round pick. Should the Flames’ by a top-10 selection, the Habs would automatically get the Panthers. It’s hard enough to put a value on a first-round pick without knowing where you’ll end up in the standings, but it’s even harder to complete trades when you don’t know which pick will definitely be yours.
Thankfully for Montreal, Hughes has managed to stay away from deals which bring that level of uncertainty. Of course, should he contemplate moving the pick he is due to receive from the Flames, he would be in the same predicament as Conroy is right now, but considering the rebuild is far from over, it would be surprising to see him try to move a first rounder, except maybe at the draft itself to move up to get the player he desires, like the trade he made with the Los Angeles Kings at last draft which allowed him to draft prospect Michael Hage.
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