The Calgary Flames are in second-to-last place at U.S. Thanksgiving, a sign that things are going poorly. With just 19 points in 25 games, there are a lot of questions to answer in Alberta. On Friday, the Flames gave their front office a vote of confidence, signing four executives, including GM Craig Conroy and President Don Maloney, to two-year extensions.

Conroy, Maloney, Senior VP of Hockey Operations, Dave Nonis, and VP of Hockey Operations, Brad Pascall, also earned two-year deals. Since taking over for Brad Treliving ahead of the 2023-24 season, Conroy has not built a playoff-caliber roster. He did hire Ryan Huska as the head coach, who also got an extension before the season.

The Flames brought Maloney along during the Treliving era, as the two worked together with the Arizona Coyotes. Days before the extension, NHL insider Frank Seravalli crushed Maloney and his role in this poor Calgary roster. “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.”

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Regardless of what Seravalli or, perhaps more importantly, the Flames think, the decision makers are locked in. Conroy is a first-time general manager who was handed a team that just lost Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. The rebuild is in the early stages, and Conroy and Maloney will be the ones leading it.

The Flames have a big trade deadline ahead of them, with Rasmus Andersson and Nazem Kadri potentially on the move. They have two first-round picks in the 2026 draft already and could add more by June. Cornerstones Dustin Wolf and Matt Coranato have struggled this year, but they are still the pieces to build around. The Flames have a direction, which is currently downward, and they have a lot of people to prove wrong.