Kent Hughes' Trade With Brad Treliving Complicates Craig Conroy's Life

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 that sent Sean Monahan and a conditional first-round pick to the Canadiens in exchange for future considerations, the GM finds himself in a world of uncertainty.

The problem for Conroy is that he finds himself with two first-round picks tied to the aforementioned trade. The one they acquired from the Florida Panthers in the Matthew Tkachuk deal will be theirs unless it ends up being the draft's first or second-overall pick. That's a highly unlikely scenario, given that the Panthers are currently second overall in the NHL.

Unless the Flames' first-round pick ends up being a top-10 pick, the Canadiens will receive the better of Calgary's and Florida's first-round picks. Should the Flames' pick become a top-10 selection, the Habs would automatically get the Panthers' choice. 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 avoid deals that 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. 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 that allowed him to draft prospect, Michael Hage.

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