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After a near-month long search, the Calgary Flames did not have to go far to find a new general manager, with the club announcing Tuesday they promoted assistant general manager Craig Conroy.

Conroy, who spent the bulk of his NHL career with the Flames, replaces Brad Treliving after Treliving and the club mutually parted ways in mid-April.

Conroy retired from playing during the 2010-11 season and immediately joined the Flames front office. He served as the club’s special assistant to the GM for four seasons. He was then named the Flames’ assistant GM, a position he held for nine years prior to his promotion.

“Thank you to the Flames ownership group for the confidence and trust they have demonstrated by providing me with this opportunity,” Conroy said in a statement. “As, to John Bean and Don Maloney for the very detailed process that has brought us to this moment. Over the course of the past 12 years, I’ve put in the time in every aspect of our hockey operations to prepare myself for today. I’m ready to accept this challenge and promise our fans that our team will do the work required to make them proud on the journey to deliver a championship.”

Promoting Conroy to GM was one of a handful of personnel changes the Flames announced. The Flames also said they hired Dave Nonis as their senior vice president of hockey operations and assistant general manager. Nonis, who was previously the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, has spent the last three years as the assistant GM for the Anaheim Ducks.

The Flames also announced added responsibilities for assistant GMs Brad Pascall and Chris Snow. Pascall was named vice president of hockey operations while Snow was named the vice president of data/analytics.

Even before Treliving and the Flames parted ways, there was a belief that this could be an offseason of change for the Flames.

They were coming off a 2021-22 season that saw them reach the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs .only to be forced to re-tool significant portions of their roster. They lost a pair of 100-point forwards last offseason when Johnny Gaudreau left in free agency to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Matthew Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers. Another 100-point forward in Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar came the other way.

The Flames also signed center Nazem Kadri in free agency after he finished with a career-high 87 points and played a significant role in helping the Colorado Avalanche win the third Stanley Cup title in franchise history.

Even with those additions, the Flames still struggled to score goals. They were 19th in goals per game in addition to facing other challenges such as having the second poorest team save percentage in 5-on-5 play, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Yet they still entered the final weeks of the regular season fighting for a playoff spot only to fall two points shy.

Conroy and his front office will have several items they must address prior to the start of the season. Finding a new coach is one of them, with the Flames announcing they fired Darryl Sutter just weeks after Treliving’s departure.

Then there’s the matter of how Conroy and his front-office staff will improve the Flames roster.

The Flames have several players in Rasmus Andersson, Blake Coleman, Andrew Mangiapane, Jacob Markstrom, Huberdeau, Kadri and Weegar with more than two years left on their current contracts. CapFriendly projects the Flames have $1.25 million in available cap space — a predicament facing several clubs in the current flat cap environment.

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D-lineman Lole flips pick from Oklahoma to Texas

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D-lineman Lole flips pick from Oklahoma to Texas

Texas has landed a transfer at a key position of need, with former Louisville defensive lineman Jermayne Lole announcing on social media Thursday that he has flipped his commitment from Oklahoma to the Longhorns.

Lole, who is entering his seventh season of college football, began his career in 2018 at Arizona State and played in 23 games in his first two seasons there. He missed the 2021 season with a triceps injury, then transferred to Louisville. After appearing in one game in 2022, Lole made 12 appearances last year with 19 tackles and 1.5 sacks. His best season came in 2019 at Arizona State, where he had 71 tackles (10 for loss) with 6.5 sacks.

The 6-foot-2, 305-pound Lole will join Arizona transfers Bill Norton and Tiaoalii Savea as Texas tries to buffer the losses of first-round pick Byron Murphy II and second-rounder T’Vondre Sweat. After Texas’ spring game April 20, coach Steve Sarkisian highlighted defensive line as a spot where he still wasn’t happy with the team’s numbers.

“I think obviously the depth on the defensive line is not where we need it to be, and so hopefully we can address that,” Sarkisian said. “We don’t have enough bodies. There’s not enough big humans. It’s simple math, so we’ve got to address it.”

Texas added UTSA star defensive end Trey Moore earlier in the spring along with five-star recruit Colin Simmons. The Longhorns also have a key returning player in defensive tackle Alfred Collins, who came back for his final season after appearing in 48 career games with six starts.

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Ex-Buffs RB McCaskill headed to Arizona State

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Ex-Buffs RB McCaskill headed to Arizona State

Former Colorado tailback Alton McCaskill has committed to transfer to Arizona State, he told ESPN. McCaskill expects to have three years of eligibility remaining for the Sun Devils, as he has taken a medical redshirt and a traditional one the past two years.

After playing just four games for Colorado last season, McCaskill will emerge as an option at tailback for Arizona State as he tries to recapture the form from his breakout 2021 freshman season at the University of Houston.

McCaskill had 14 carries for 59 yards at Colorado in those four games last season before asking coach Deion Sanders to be redshirted. Sanders granted that wish. McCaskill missed the 2022 season after tearing his ACL in the spring of 2022.

That came in the wake of a promising opening season at Houston in 2021, when he earned AAC Rookie of the Year honors. He ran for 961 yards and hauled in 113 receiving yards. His 16 rushing touchdowns that season led all true freshmen and set Houston’s true freshman record for rushing touchdowns. He accounted for 18 total touchdowns for the Cougars.

McCaskill came to UH as a four-star recruit in the class of 2021. His scholarship offer sheet lists USC, Oklahoma State and many of the top programs in the country.

He’ll join a talented running back room at Arizona State, which is headlined by senior Cam Skattebo, who rushed for 783 yards and nine touchdowns last season for the Sun Devils after transferring from Sacramento State.

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Giants place OF Soler on the 10-day injured list

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Giants place OF Soler on the 10-day injured list

DENVER — The San Francisco Giants on Wednesday placed outfielder-designated hitter Jorge Soler on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder strain and filled his roster spot by recalling outfielder Heliot Ramos from their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

Soler, whose placement on the IL was made retroactive to Sunday, had missed the last three games. He was hitting .202 with five home runs and 8 RBI. Soler joined the Giants in the offseason, signing a three-year, $42 million deal as a free agent. “Every time he’s been in the cage and tried to swing, it has bothered him so there’s no way it’s a couple days away,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll try to let him rest and get past this thing.”

Ramos was the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2017. In 30 games with Sacramento this season, he was batting .296 with eight home runs.

He appeared in 34 games with the Giants over the past two seasons, hitting .158.

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