I actually thought Macoun was more important to the good teams back then, than Suter was. Hard to put guys like Macoun or Regehr on a list like this, but they've both been very key players to our best seasons.
Macoun was a beauty. It bothered me more that he was included in the Gilmour trade than Gilmour himself.
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Fleury might just be the most talented Flame ever, along with Nilsson, Makarov, and Gaudreau. He did spend a fair bit of time at C though. On NHL 99 I sued to play him and Lindros together - unstoppable.
Mcdonald's goal was the go ahead goal in a 1-1 game. Gilmour then made it 3-1 in the third before MTL got one back. Empty netter made the game final at 4-2.
But yes, Mcdonald's goal isn't the game winner, but is certainly the more iconic moment from that game/year.
In baseball, when it was an official stat (it no longer is), the GWH was the RBI which put the team ahead to stay.
Based on that, McDonald's should be the game winning goal. It put Calgary into the lead and they never trailed after that.
It seems silly that a game winning goal can be changed because of a late meaningless goal.
Man. Vividly remember that night. Was only 10, and the family was out at a multi-family house party. Ain't NOBODY was gonna pry me away from the TV, though! By overtime, all the dads had joined me anyways
Amazing how they struggled against the Canucks but were so dominant the rest of the way. Almost like that series had to be that tough just so that the Flames could remind themselves of their overall strength. "Monkey off back; now let's get the job done" kind of thing.
That's crazy. What does prime Fleury give you that prime Iginla can't?
Hard for me to look at it objectively though. Iginla is my all time favourite, Fleury is perhaps my least favourite Flame.
Because Fleury was more skilled easy. Look how many more games it took Iginla to reach Fleury's numbers. If Theo had not left Calgary and not become unglued Iggy would not have gotten remotely close to his totals.
Because Fleury was more skilled easy. Look how many more games it took Iginla to reach Fleury's numbers. If Theo had not left Calgary and not become unglued Iggy would not have gotten remotely close to his totals.
Maybe so.
I can't think of single time that Iginla has ever embarrassed himself and his team. With Fleury it was a regular thing. And I am only talking about on ice.
Maybe Fleury did have more skill. Maybe. But I know for sure that Iginla never fought a mascot.
Yeah, I would rather have Fleury than Roberts on the top line with Nieuwy and Iginla. That would be an extremely fun line to watch. Fleury zipped all over the place when at his best anyways.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
Just imagine how great Theo would have been if he had been clean and sober. Amazing how well he played in Calgary and put up the numbers he did as the team was going from Cup winners to slowly tearing it down.
There are some tough decisions on the top 6 of all time. I think Niewy is a lock as is Chopper. Clearly some incredible players to choose from at each position.
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Because Fleury was more skilled easy. Look how many more games it took Iginla to reach Fleury's numbers. If Theo had not left Calgary and not become unglued Iggy would not have gotten remotely close to his totals.
Everyone and their dog were scoring 40 or 50 goals in Fleury's era. Not to mention, Fleury had a tonne of talent surrounding him until the last couple years. Iginla had his biggest years in the lowest scoring era with virtually nobody to play with. Craig Conroy was no slouch I guess, but he wasn't Joe Nieuwendyk or Sergei Makarov or even Robert Reichel!
Fleury was electrifying to watch for sure, but the Flames never had a power forward like Iginla. He was a freakin animal in the early 2000's. He'd beat you up and then he'd beat you upstairs. And then he'd give the aw shucks I'm just happy to be here interview after the game. I think too many folks forget what he was like in his prime.
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I think Nieuwy centering a grumpy Roberts and grumpy Iggy backed up by a grumpy Gio playing along McInnis and Kipper (Kipper after suffering a blow out loss) would be about as dominant a starting 6 as you could probably ever find.
That's large portions of the other team off on stretchers and multiple chased goalies. And Kipper calmly facing 10 shots and wondering what the fuss is all about. I have an urge to buy NHL 17 all of a sudden.
Everyone and their dog were scoring 40 or 50 goals in Fleury's era. Not to mention, Fleury had a tonne of talent surrounding him until the last couple years. Iginla had his biggest years in the lowest scoring era with virtually nobody to play with. Craig Conroy was no slouch I guess, but he wasn't Joe Nieuwendyk or Sergei Makarov or even Robert Reichel!
Fleury was electrifying to watch for sure, but the Flames never had a power forward like Iginla. He was a freakin animal in the early 2000's. He'd beat you up and then he'd beat you upstairs. And then he'd give the aw shucks I'm just happy to be here interview after the game. I think too many folks forget what he was like in his prime.
I disagree. If you take a forward's prime years as 27 to 29 years old - you'll see Fleury almost scored 50 goals with the 1995/96 Flames - that is an incredible feat - and scored just about 30 goals in the next couple years - he had almost NO talent surrounding him in Calgary during his prime.
Iginla's prime years being 2003-2006 are remarkably similar production - but I would argue he had way more talent surrounding him then.
For sure Iginla was a power forward that Fleury couldn't match, but I would say their on-ice performances were equally inspiring for the team.
It is tough to compare who had more talent around them but I would say Theo benefited from having Housley on the blueline who was an elite passer. Iginla never had anyone like that on D
Two words: scorpion save. I do remember Mike Vernon in the corner trying to throw his stick to stop a goal in an open net a time or two. Lol. I think kipper was more acrobatic then vernon and more positionally sound. I seem to remember Kipper always saving second and third chances in tight. You could make an equally good arguement for either guy I suppose. Me personally, I'm Kipper all the way. Kipper made very marginal flames teams look alot better then they actually were, year after year. And he really never got too worked up, utterly unflappable.
Last edited by FlamesFanTrev; 07-27-2017 at 03:02 AM.
Reason: It's too, not to
There aren't many players to have played the game that I would take """easily""" over a Ted Lindsay, Art Ross and two time Rocket Richard recipient, especially not Theoren "Plus/Minus MVP" Fleury