Conroy promoted to GM

The Calgary Flames promoted from within and gave former player Craig Conroy his first job as an NHL general manager.

The Flames introduced the 51year-old from Potsdam, N.Y., at packed news conference Tuesday at the Saddledome.

Conroy was an assistant GM of the Flames for nine seasons under Brad Treliving, who departed in April after nine years as GM.

Conroy played just over 1,000 NHL games. Half of them were with the Flames over two stints with the club. He was a Flame when Calgary reached the Stanley Cup final in 2004. Calgary’s lone Stanley Cup win was in 1989.

“This is the dream job for me and I might not say that in a couple months,” Conroy said with a chuckle. “Right now, that’s the way I feel.”

The Flames also announced that former Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks GM Dave Nonis has joined the team as senior vice-president of hockey operations and assistant GM.

Shortly after retiring, Conroy joined Calgary’s front office in 2011 as a special assistant to then-GM Jay Feaster.

Naming a new coach will be Conroy’s first order of business after Darryl Sutter was fired May 1, less than two weeks after the Flames announced Treliving had left.

Treliving pulled off a pair of blockbuster moves in signing free agent Nazem Kadri and getting winger Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in a trade with the Florida Panthers for Matthew Tkachuk. Neither Kadri nor Huberdeau, with a combined 15 years and $133 million (U.S.) in contracts between them, meshed well with Sutter, and their production was well below their career highs.