Craig Conroy Redux: A View From Daryl of the Flaming Circle

A few more thoughts on Craig Conroy, who is coming back at least for a minimum-wage tryout with the Flames this fall/ One of my colleagues in the Flaming Circle, my old buddy Daryl Leman, had this to say a couple of days ago – reminding us how much this guy can still bring to the table, and how good he was a few years ago when both he and the team were at their best:

“Having Conroy’s personality around the dressing room and in front of the cameras is always a good thing. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to hear him place a call to the post game show on The Fan 960 a few more times.

“Skills-wise, the one expectation I’d set for him is that he continue to win more than 50% of his face-offs whenever he is called upon.

“I do hope there’s a spot for him somewhere in the organization when he’s done on the ice because he was a terrific team player who gave everything he had.

“I’ll always remember a key face-off he won against a San Jose opponent the year the Flames went to the finals against Tampa Bay. He tapped the puck between the guy’s legs, stepped around him, gathered the puck on the other side, spotted Iggy steaming behind a defenseman off the wing and hit him with a perfect pass to send him in alone on the goaltender. Iggy buried the puck behind Nabokov and it was game, set and match.

“The guy who lost the face-off bore an expression that said it all: ‘Fuck. FUCK. Now we’re REALLY fucked.’ ”