Jacob Markstrom Trade Proving to be Craig Conroy's Best Work as Calgary Flames General Manager

In three years as Calgary Flames General Manager, Craig Conroy has made plenty of trades, and as is the nature of the National Hockey League, he's won some and he's lost some.

One that garnered plenty of criticism at the time was the Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey deal, with one writer from The Athletic even giving the Flames a D- grade for the deal that saw them acquire what would become the No. 18 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and Kevin Bahl. Now, the Flames have one of their most exciting prospects in years in Cole Reschny as a result, as well as Bahl, who has signed long-term and will be a key piece of this blue line for years to come.

Recently, after two seasons with the Devils, Markstrom was flipped along with his two-year, $6 million AAV contract to the Florida Panthers in the hopes he could bring them back to Stanley Cup glory.

Given the return of Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and Ben Steeves, the reaction on social media was unsurprisingly harsh towards the Devils, but it proves one thing: this was Craig Conroy's best deal as Flames GM.

Very rarely does a goaltender above 33-years-old garner a first-round pick in return, let alone one that had never won the Vezina Trophy, and not only did Conroy get the pick that would turn into Reschny, he got a shutdown defenseman to play in their top-four, who was only 24 at the time.

Sure, the Devils likely expected to go deep in 2024/25, thus giving the Flames a pick in the late 20's, but that didn't happen, with the pick instead coming at No. 18 overall, and now, the Flames have clearly come out on top after Markstrom was dealt for very little. Obviously, the deal was only going to be as good as Conroy's drafting, but Reschny looks like a future 2C in the NHL for Calgary, and to land him and Bahl for an ageing defender that was traded just two years later for scraps? A masterclass from Conroy in every sense of the word.

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