The Calgary Flames will be honouring Joe Nieuwendyk for the contributions he has made to the organization as a player and a person on Friday, March 7th when a Forever a Flame banner for Nieuwendyk will be hoisted and remain on permanent display at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“Joe was a very special member of the Flames family with his amazing on ice achievements and the dignity and class he exhibited every day,” said Calgary Flames President & CEO Ken King.
Nieuwendyk joins former teammates Lanny McDonald, Mike Vernon and Al MacInnis when he receives his Forever a Flame honour during a ceremony to take place prior to the Flames versus the New York Islanders game at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Nieuwendyk will be accompanied by his family and members of the Flames alumni in a pre-game ceremony.
“I am truly honoured to receive this recognition and join with my former teammates and friends as well as all Flames fans, to celebrate the outstanding history and traditions established by the Flames organization,” said Nieuwendyk. “I spent nine memorable seasons with Calgary and I am extremely proud as a member of the Flames family to have my name and number recognized by the organization.”
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Dear Ken King - Forever a Flame is ridiculous and an overall embarrassment to a once proud franchise. STOP DOING THESE and just retire his friggin' number
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Forever a Flame is ridiculous, but so is the notion of retiring Nieuwendyk's number. Holding out on the team should not be rewarded with raising his number to the rafters IMHO.
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I'm in favor of the Forever a Flame if it does not replace Jersey retirement, Nieuwendyk IMO doesn't deserve to have his number retired, but certainly can be honored. But this sentence is just not true:
Quote:
Nieuwendyk joins former teammates Lanny McDonald, Mike Vernon and Al MacInnis when he receives his Forever a Flame honour
It's not perfect for anybody. There's pictures of him around, people who know the franchise know what he did for us. This is just an extra piece of fluff. If a player deserves his number retired, so it, if not, well then we'll just remember what he did. I thought for MacInnis it was because he requested it not be retired because he was with the Blues, but obviously they think this is a good idea, and it's not.
If they want to honour a guy, fine, have a "Player X" night. Don't hang banners for some half assed idea.
IMO only lifetime flames should get a retired number. I know its not a popular opinion, but if every Flame that has 4-6 awesome years here gets retired then the Flames will need three digit numbers.
Most of these guys played longer with other orgs. It seems needy to do this.
IMO its the sign of a weak team with little history. That's not the Flames.
f*&^%$k guys that left the team to get more money. They got paid, they left, thank you very much. I don't fault them, but the relationship with fans ended when they left.
When the Jarome festivities were over, I wiped away my tears and started cheering for Gio to destroy him.
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