Goalie Dustin Wolf, 24, also put together a season worthy of his selection as a finalist for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL rookie of the year. Wolf was 29-16-8 in 53 games with a 2.64 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and three shutouts.

All four are expected to take another step this season, along with forwards Joel Farabee, 25, Morgan Frost, 26, and Adam Klapka, 24, and defensemen Kevin Bahl, 25, and Brayden Pachal, 25.

“I think you like to see the young guys that we’ve been bringing up as we’ve gone along,” Conroy said. “I’m going to need Farabee, I’m going to need Frost, Zary, Matty Coronato, just guys like that, that can come in and are going to have to play better for us and are going to have to give us more offense and take the next step. If they do, that’s going to be the difference for us.

“With Klapka and Pospisil, those are what we need right now; those are the guys that we need to rise and be better and we’re going to need them to play more and that’s going to give them that chance.”

Calgary also has several prospects in its system looking to break through this season.

Defenseman Zayne Parekh, 19, scored in his NHL debut April 17 in the final game of the season at the Los Angeles Kings. He was selected No. 9 in the 2024 NHL Draft and is expected to get a long look at training camp after he had 107 points (33 goals, 74 assists) in 61 games with Saginaw of the Ontario Hockey League last season.

Forward Sam Morton, 26, also scored in his NHL debut at Los Angeles and could battle for a roster spot after a strong season with Calgary of the American Hockey League, where he had 45 points (20 goals, 25 assists) in 70 games.

Conroy said there is going to be competition throughout the lineup this season with the Flames looking to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2021-2022.

“Come take a spot, come take a job, earn it, take it,” he said. “If there’s an injury, you get a chance, never give that spot back. It’s hard to say there’s one spot here and one spot there, they’re all open in my mind, but these veteran guys aren’t going to give you anything, we need the younger guys to push the veteran guys to be better.”