Who was the worst player/goalie to play for the Flames?

[Gallick]

I thought Curtis McElhinney was legitimately the worst NHL goalie I'd ever seen at the time, but I'm really happy he went on to have a pretty long and fruitful career and actually put up some pretty good numbers for a bunch of different teams. I think he was just not ready for primetime, and Kipper played 76, 76 and 73 games in McElhinney's three seasons here, so the poor kid got absolutely no reps.

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Not the worst, but here is a list of some of the most disappointing:

Friesen - Good resume, just did nothing for the Flames.

Friesen definitely was super disappointing. IIRC, his playing weight with the Flames ballooned to 220-230lbs. You'd think a guy whose standout NHL attribute is speed would take better care of himself and try to protect the main thing keeping him in the NHL...

[TheScorpion]

I tried so damn hard to like Neal but good lord, he was just awful. Worst UFA signing this team has ever made.

Near the end, Lucic was as bad a Flame as I've ever seen. I had plenty of time for him in his first two years but he was just atrocious in his final year especially.

I'm not sure any Flames player has ever frustrated me to no end quite like Dillon Dube, who just seemed to get worse as time went on -- and then, obviously, his tenure had pretty much the worst possible ending. Yuck.

A few others that come to mind ... Joakim Nordstrom, Nikita Nesterov, Josh Leivo (man, that 2021 team was special), Brian Elliott, Nik Grossmann, Shane O'Brien, and the Ritchies.

[btimbit]

I personally found Mason Raymond incredibly frustrating to watch, but yeah, I have to agree with the people saying James Neal. It's different when some depth guy comes in and is ineffective, but to be brought in as a scoring winger and then not do squat, and then pout like you've earned something and mail it in even harder, and bring everyone else down around you. Fata all that

[CaptainCrunch]

Anyone remember Aaron Gavey from the Young Guns era.



I swear every game it was the same thing.


Peter - "And the Flames are up by a goal with the game winding down and they seem to have things under control. Wait a minute the referees got his hands up, it looks like another lazy penalty by Gavey."

[DeluxeMoustache]

Nm

[timun]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Probably Rocky Thompson or Sasha Lakovic.

Those two guys and Sami Helenius are the trifecta I always think of when asked this question. They were fighters, pure and simple.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by timun

Those two guys and Sami Helenius are the trifecta I always think of when asked this question. They were fighters, pure and simple.

Meh, Westgarth was supposedly a fighter and didn’t even do that well.

[Zary's-Mustache]

Honorable mentions to Jason Wiemer.

[sa226]

The only one that stands our from an in person perspective was Rocky Thompson.

I remember the buzz following him from the hair to the look to the fan favorite type of old school "Slap Shot " vibe.

Then I went to a game, had decent seats and watched him a bit.

I'm pretty sure I was a better hockey than he was, and I was an extremely below average hockey player.

[timun]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Meh, Westgarth was supposedly a fighter and didn’t even do that well.

Look I'm not saying they're definitively, after an extremely comprehensive analysis by a panel of experts, the worst. They're just the three I think of first because they stand out in my memory.



That said, wanna take a crack at guessing the identities of the following, based on their NHL career stat lines?

Player 1: 169 GP, 7 G, 9 A, 16 P, 266 PIM
Player 2: 155 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, 260 PIM
Player 3: 37 GP, 0 G, 4 A, 4 P, 118 PIM
Player 4: 25 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, 117 PIM

Spoiler!

Player 1 = Kevin Westgarth
Player 2 = Sami Helenius
Player 3 = Sasha Lakovic
Player 4 = Rocky Thompson

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

not sure about worst, but Rene Bourque is still probably the dumbest hockey player I've ever watched.

Originally Posted by Ferarri

Maybe not the worst but definitely the laziest.

and soft

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Anyone remember the late Greg Smyth?

Big slow defenceman, played 42 games for the Flames in '91-92 and '92-93. I vividly remember him being interviewed on the radio when he came here from the Nordiques. I believe it was Peter Maher who asked him what was the highlight of his NHL career so far, and he said: ‘That would have to be the time I scored a goal.’

Smyth scored one as a rookie with the Flyers in '86-87. His next goal was with the Flames, five seasons later. He bounced around the league, played for six teams altogether, then was assistant coach of the St. John's Maple Leafs for a whole month before getting in a fight with two of his own players. He was canned the following day. Seemed like a nice guy, but he was a lousy player and a complete washout as a coach.

"two-time goal scorer Greg Smyth" has a nice ring to it.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by timun

Look I'm not saying they're definitively, after an extremely comprehensive analysis by a panel of experts, the worst. They're just the three I think of first because they stand out in my memory.



That said, wanna take a crack at guessing the identities of the following, based on their NHL career stat lines?

Player 1: 169 GP, 7 G, 9 A, 16 P, 266 PIM
Player 2: 155 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 P, 260 PIM
Player 3: 37 GP, 0 G, 4 A, 4 P, 118 PIM
Player 4: 25 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 P, 117 PIM

Spoiler!

Player 1 = Kevin Westgarth
Player 2 = Sami Helenius
Player 3 = Sasha Lakovic
Player 4 = Rocky Thompson

I'm talking Westgarth as a Flame. My memory of him is that he never played shifts and just got in the ice during TV timeouts. He did somehow manage seven points.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by Zary's-Mustache

Honorable mentions to Jason Wiemer.

I think Wiemer's first stint with the Flames was actually quite good. I believe it was Sutter that said he could win the Cup if he had 20 Wiemers on the team. The 2nd stint not so much.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by boogerz

Friesen definitely was super disappointing. IIRC, his playing weight with the Flames ballooned to 220-230lbs. You'd think a guy whose standout NHL attribute is speed would take better care of himself and try to protect the main thing keeping him in the NHL...

I believe it came out a couple of years later that he was struggling with some off ice personal problems at the time.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Worse than Doug Dadswell?

He was dehyrated! (it was him right?)

Dadswell barely played in the NHL so I don't want to pick on him. Edwards was an NHL regular and wow was he awful.

This thread also reminded me about Gary Leeman. I remember how he was the big hope in our return for Gilmour but man... Definitely in my starting line-up for Worst Flames ever.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

You're just mad because he couldn't speak french despite having a stereotypical french name.

I’d have settled for just being a decent player. Only the Quebec govt cares what language you speak.

[kipperiggy]

Eriksson








Then anybody else in this thread.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

That was also Doug Dadswell haha. That was the first loss ever by the Flames to the Devils, if I remember right. Or maybe just first loss at the Meadowlands.

But I also remember Shaky D'Amour. Not good.

I had to look up D'Amour, but interesting that in that season, his SPCT was far superior to either Lemelin or Vernon.