''It's been alot of fun, but it's time to move on!''

One of the most coveted UFA center and Stanley Cup finalist, Craig Conroy, agreed to a contract with the Los Angeles Kings today.According to TSN, it is a 3 year deal plus an option.

Since Conroy had already established chemistry with winger and Flames captain Jarome Iginla and the Kings are about to lose most of their offensive core (Palffy, Allison, Deadmarsh, Carter) this is clearly a money issue.

Everyone knew that Conroy would be looking for a substantial salary raise after the great playoffs he’s had, but I personnally doubt he even came close to the ”4-5 M$ a year for 3 to 4 year” contract he was seeking. We’ll know soon enough, but my guess would be somewhere around 3M$ a year.

Conroy, 32, missed 19 games this past season with a knee injury and scored 47 points in 63 games. However, he bounced back with a strong playoff, scoring 17 points in 26 games.

Comments?

Marco Normandin (Lint07)


32 Responses to ''It's been alot of fun, but it's time to move on!''

  1. Viller02 says:

    wow thats like a ***** slap in the face for Calgary. Htye hesitated on signing him, too bad for them… Now they’ll have to get someone else…

  2. Tweek says:

    it dosnt really matter to calgary, they got reinprect and lombardi who didnt even play in the playoffs, they will be fine up the middle, what they need is a winger, somebody like anson carter would be good for them because he is coming off a bad year and has some skill and probably wouldnt be too expensive.

  3. GeniushockeyKID says:

    look for the rangers to snatch up demitra or rolston by week’s end.

  4. FlamesRock says:

    I don’t know what say. Why L.A. though? No offense to Kings fans but it seems like a random place to go. It turns out that Conroy was less of a team player than I thought, at least with the Flames he has a major star to dump the puck to in Iginla and now with L.A. he’s not going to have anyone. Man, I thought a guy like him would have stayed in Calgary.

  5. qsilver31 says:

    I personally don’t get this signing. If it’s to replace the lose of Palffy, Deadmarsh, and Allison, I would’ve signed Zhamnov as the Centre.

    If they are just trying to get somebody to fill up cap space so the fans won’t complain, I would see them rather ink Kariya.

    And I would expect this deal to be around 4 mil per season. Conroy won’t leave Calgary for that little (+1 mil). I heard Calgary offered him 3 mil.

  6. d_only_Flames_Fan says:

    as a flames fan, let me be one of the first to say, well, crap.

  7. d_only_Flames_Fan says:

    that doesnt matter, what matters is that conroy and iginla had chemistry, more than most guys do, and conroy was a huge part of the team in terms of leadership.

  8. curtman96 says:

    hahaha this is a bad move for both LA and Conroy. La wont be replacing shit with Conroy, hes not even that good, he had a decent season and playoffs, no offensive skills really. As for Conroy, he just left a good hardworking team who has a lot beter of a shot than LA but instead probably wants another million on his contract. Whata fagget greed bastard

  9. B-Rad says:

    TSN is saying that the deal is 4 years 12.6 million.

  10. CommonSense says:

    As a Blues fan, let me be the first to tell Demitra “Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya”. He will do just fine for the Rangers, since he won’t have to play any meaningful games. This guy should be a magician, what with his incredible penchant for the “old disappearing act”. NEVER did he play well in the playoffs. NEVER did he post big games against the likes of Detroit, Colorado, Dallas…or any other team that played hard. But he sure put up a ton of points on expansion teams and cellar dwellars.

    Good riddance to bad rubbish.

  11. CommonSense says:

    This one could go either way. Conroy is NOT going to put up big numbers on his own, he needs to ride the coattails of someone with a lot of talent (i.e. Iginla). And even with that said, 47 points in 63 games?…..These are not Gretzky-like numbers…..

    However, Conroy is a physical presence, works his tail off EVERY shift, and will give you every last drop of blood he has to get the job done – no matter what jersey he wears.

  12. qsilver31 says:

    “And even with that said, 47 points in 63 games?…..These are not Gretzky-like numbers…..”

    Wow that’s insightful. Conroy’s main strength has never been putting up points. He’s a hard working ginder, who was given an offensive role on Calgary. This guy was a 3rd line checker with the Blues before he got sent away.

    I would rather have a hard working team than something… like…. oh lets just take the Rangers. Calgary showed you what heart and determination can get you in the playoffs. Hats off to them, a kick in the balls to Conroy for being a tad greedy. If the TSN.ca report is true, 0.6 mil higher than what Calgary offered him (and that’s not even per year!) is truely a shame.

  13. d_only_Flames_Fan says:

    Robitaille

  14. d_only_Flames_Fan says:

    conroy scores a lot more goals when he gets selfish. in calgary, he was always looking for jarome, trying to figure out how to give it to him. in LA he might try to put it in a bit more, and look for him to have a 25-30 goal season there.

  15. d_only_Flames_Fan says:

    what a clever insight.

  16. JaYs says:

    LA overpaid!

  17. afanofthelakings says:

    just wait, LA will get a right winger to play with Conroy and Robitaille …

    Possibility : Demitra, Recchi or Kovalev

    and maybe if they can get one of these at low salary (under 4M$/year) they’ll get an other good(not superstar) player.

    Guys like : Perreault, Nikolishin, Cullen, Corson, Hlavac, Czerkawski, Mellanby, Arvedson or Battaglia (One of theses)

    An they’ll also get a new D-man : Tremblay, Zhitnik or Matvitchuk

    In goals there OK with Cechmanek and Garon

    So I think they’ll sign a big D-man, a superstar Right-winger, a good 2nd line player and some little players and they’ll be OK

    Some examples of little players :

    S.Blouin(VAN), S.Martins(STL), J.Sim(PIT), J.Heerema(NYR), C.Darby(NJ), P.Laus(FLO), etc.

  18. nocuphere says:

    Makes sense to me, Conroy wanted more money than Calgary was willing to pay, and LA definately had room for him under their current salary structure, I also think it’s funny that people are saying Conroy isn’t that good or isn’t a team guy.

    Iginla didn’t really start to blossom until he was placed on a line with Conroy in Conroys first full season as a flame. Not to mention the huge goals he scored for calgary in the playoffs, He was underrated in St. Lou, I guess he’s unappreciated in the Calgary front office.

  19. AfroCon says:

    For people who are saying that LA got Conroy to replace Allison and draw comparison between the two players, you can’t look at it that way.

    He’s not there to replace Allison or Deadmarsh since these guys haven’t played for a long time so he’s an upgrade over nothingness.

    LA has a bunch of young kids and Conroy’s leadership will definitly help them and he’s not half bad offensivelly.

    They now need to move Straka on the wing and get themselves another center and a strong d-man to make them a playoff team.

    Don’t get me wrong, they won’t be amazing but with about 15 millions left to spend, they could get a few major players to jump on board and make them a pretty strong team.

    I mean, imagine if they manage to sign Demitra and let’s say Matvichuk plus another grinder… They certainly have the money for it…

    Would make a pretty decent team wouldn’t you say so?

  20. Viller02 says:

    Id rather play in LA than Calgary thats for sure. good weather all year around, beaches (do these even exist in calgary? lol), etc…

  21. IKovalchuk17 says:

    Look for Alexander Frolov to have a major break-out season

  22. IKovalchuk17 says:

    Everyone is saying how we are trying to replace Deadmarsh and Allison but we have basically been with out them the last 2 seasons, so we are already used to not having them here and to say that anson carter was a part of the kings core offense is a joke, because that guy didnt do jack shit for the Kings, and i still think their might be a chance for ziggy to come back because he wants 9 million after the Kings offered him 8 million, and i dont think any one is going to pay him 9 million a year.

  23. Tweek says:

    well calgary is a young team and guys like regehr and leopold can step up in the leadership department to a already deep room full of warriors, im not worried about the flames

  24. CommonSense says:

    Well Q, being a Blues fan, I am well aware of Conroy’s game and the role that he was forced into in Calgary. I know that his defense is his main strength. And this contract is a great exaple of why the NHL’s salaries are out of control. I think 12 million is far too much to pay a glorified grinder with a touch of offensive talent.

    And if he did indeed bolt Calgary for $600,000, well that is downright disappointing.

  25. angryjew says:

    ok

    1.ur name is ikovalchuk17 how are u going to say we like the kings are ur team.

    2.the kings offered ziggy 19.5 million over 3 years that is 6.5 million.

    3. and ziggy said that he was not going to take a pay cut to stay with the kings.

    he made 7 million last year

  26. wayne2 says:

    Conroy is a good player but i dont see what the fuss

    was all about,after all he only had 40 some points

    and thats playing center for Iginla.

  27. StuWild says:

    His leadership and work ethic will be missed but not skill. He is nowhere near close to being a top line player anyway. Either Reinprecht or Lombardi are much better candidates to play top line with Iggy than he was anyway. LA is paying this checker way too much!!!!

  28. 19Yzerman says:

    Conroy was smoking everyone right through the playoffs in the face off circle. He also chipped in some big goals. You can’t tell me you aren’t disapointed that he is an LA King now.

  29. 19Yzerman says:

    I would like to see Conroy play on a line with Sean Avery.That will still things up for the Kings.

  30. Kraut182 says:

    What I’ll miss is the Craig Conroy interview, talking a thousand miles a minute with the biggest grin in the world (and a terrible mustache for a while). I hope the rumours are wrong about it being $600000, doesn’t make sense to leave after a great experience for that little. The bigger picture, however, is that this now leaves Calgary with $3 million more to make sure they keep Jarome and to possibly surround him with some more talent.

  31. GilaMonster says:

    this pisses me off

    the only reason calgary flames are calling conroy a checker and not that great a player is because hes no longer on the flames

    i guarantee that if the flames would have resigned him flame fans would be singing his praises

  32. GilaMonster says:

    this pisses me off

    the only reason calgary flames are calling conroy a checker and not that great a player is because hes no longer on the flames

    i guarantee that if the flames would have resigned him flame fans would be singing his praises

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