Calgary Flames fans aren’t the only ones upset with Don Maloney.
The Flames’ president of hockey operations created quite the firestorm amongst the fan base last week following two interviews, one with Sportsnet’s Brendan Parker and the other with Eric Francis. In both, he was adamant that the direction of the franchise and the decisions management makes won’t be influenced by the rough start to the season.
Don Maloney gives his thoughts on the first period tonight, the first 21 games of the season, and the #Flames young players.
🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/kwgTuyFeeR
— FlamesNation (@FlamesNation) November 20, 2025
The comments were considered tone deaf by many, who have been begging this organization to tear things down and opt for a full rebuild. It isn’t just fans who think that’s the best course of action, either.
NHL insider Frank Seravalli recently blasted Maloney, not only for his comments, but also due to the fact that GM Craig Conroy hasn’t been signed to an extension. After all, Conroy has just begun putting his fingerprint on this organization. His drafting and mostly solid trade acquisitions are slowly helping this team get back on the right track.
Despite doing what most would consider to be a good job to this point, Conroy’s future remains up in the air, something which Seravalli — and many others — find rather baffling.
“We need to chalk up a few more wins this season before we’re willing to extend our general manager. What is it that the Flames would be looking for, for a guy who’s done a lot of the great work already to get to this point, to position this team for the next three years?” Seravalli said.
“We’re going to have him sit idle and wait? What good does that do? What message does that send to him? What message does that send to the team? What message does that send to the rest of the Calgary Flames front office? The sooner that Craig Conroy and the rest of the Calgary Flames staff don’t have to report to Don Maloney, is the sooner that the rest of this franchise will be better off.”
“The sooner that Craig Conroy & the rest of the Calgary #Flames staff don’t have to report to Don Maloney, is the sooner that the rest of this franchise will be better off”
@frank_seravalli on the ‘Franky Hockey’ show shocked that Conny does not have an extension! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/T8aoyGj0sb
— In the Dome (@InTheDomePod) November 24, 2025
Based on the work Conroy has done since being named GM of the Flames following the 2022-23 season, one would expect him to have a contract extension completed sooner rather than later. That said, this is quickly turning into a story Flames fans will want to monitor, as it’s rather surprising that an agreement hasn’t already been reached.
In the meantime, the Flames will continue to try to save their salvaged season, despite plenty of the fan base rooting for them to lose games.
They are currently riding a three-game win streak, which has resulted in them jumping ahead of the Nashville Predators in the NHL standings. They’ll be looking for a fourth-straight win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
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