Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Who are your ten favourite (and least favourite) Flames ever?

timun · 08-23-2022, 01:13 PM

Favourites:

Gary Roberts - absolute warrior, if not for injuries would probably be in discussion for the best "power forward" of all-time
Jarome Iginla - GOAT Flame
Joel Otto - one of the best defensive forwards who never won a Selke Trophy. The most vivid memories of the best hockey I ever watched are Otto and Mark Messier lining up for an opening face-off.
Rick Tabaracci - irrational I know but I loathed Trevor Kidd, who was petulant and entitled, while Tabaracci just quietly went about his game and basically stole Kidd's job, lol
Martin Gelinas - "The Eliminator" was always a favourite player of mine, I respected him a lot in his time playing for the Canucks in the early-mid '90s; an incredibly useful player who could do a little of anything
Miikka Kiprusoff - was just so, so good; the Flames were so spoiled to have a goalie who could absolutely shut the door the way he did
Tim Hunter - I just have fond memories of dust-ups in the '80s
Jiri Hudler - funny guy and fun player to watch
Brad McCrimmon - one of the greatest defensive defencemen of all time, hugely underrated player; would have been a hell of a great coach had he not died in that plane crash
Fred Brathwaite - a bright light in an otherwise super-dark time

Least favourite:

James Neal - incredibly selfish, lazy, entitled player
Trevor Kidd - came in feeling entitled to the starting goalie job, never ever lived up to his own hype, super childish about his playing time (especially splits with Tabaracci), no accountability for his incredibly streaky play, and easily the worst playoff goalie in Flames history
Robert Reichel - was a shadow of the player he once was when he came back from the '94 lockout; as with Neal, selfish, lazy and entitled
Sergei Makarov - big ego, moody and resentful; they honestly should have traded him in 1992 instead of letting him go to free agency and matching the Sharks' offer sheet
Chris Drury - didn't want to be here
Michael Nylander - moody, disinterested player; reminded me a lot of Reichel
Adam Fox - never actually a Flames player, which is precisely why he's a "least favourite": didn't want to be here, so #### 'im
Theoren Fleury - in retrospect there was a lot going on that we didn't know about, drug abuse and such, but the guy had a massive chip on his shoulder and was a toxic presence, especially after most of the other '89 Cup champions were gone
Doug Gilmour - in retrospect I have a little more understanding for the guy, but what it really boils down to is he quit the team for money. He had a contract, didn't like it and wanted more, went to arbitration mid-season, didn't get what he wanted, overheard Doug Risebrough talking about trading him (because Risebrough was now in a financial bind), and he quite literally took some equipment home after the New Year's Eve game against the Habs and told the team he was done as a Calgary Flame. Remember this was an era where teams who won the Stanley Cup usually became dynasties—the Habs won 6/10 Cups in the '70s including four-in-a-row and were still super-competitive into the '90s, the Islanders won their four-in-a-row, the Oilers won 5/7 years from '84 to '90—it was still expected that the Flames would win a couple more Cups, would still be competitive for a long time, but two years post-'89-Cup and the team was already falling apart.
Joe Nieuwendyk - similarly to Gilmour he had a contract in place, decided he was going to sit out and refuse to report rather than play the last year of the contract out, and forced a trade. Again, in retrospect I have a little more understanding in that the salaries were skyrocketing league-wide and if I was in the position he was in I might have bailed out on a relatively bad contract a year early too, but it stung a lot.

08-23-2022, 01:13 PM	#356
timun First Line Centre Join Date: May 2012 Exp:	Favourites: Gary Roberts - absolute warrior, if not for injuries would probably be in discussion for the best "power forward" of all-time Jarome Iginla - GOAT Flame Joel Otto - one of the best defensive forwards who never won a Selke Trophy. The most vivid memories of the best hockey I ever watched are Otto and Mark Messier lining up for an opening face-off. Rick Tabaracci - irrational I know but I loathed Trevor Kidd, who was petulant and entitled, while Tabaracci just quietly went about his game and basically stole Kidd's job, lol Martin Gelinas - "The Eliminator" was always a favourite player of mine, I respected him a lot in his time playing for the Canucks in the early-mid '90s; an incredibly useful player who could do a little of anything Miikka Kiprusoff - was just so, so good; the Flames were so spoiled to have a goalie who could absolutely shut the door the way he did Tim Hunter - I just have fond memories of dust-ups in the '80s Jiri Hudler - funny guy and fun player to watch Brad McCrimmon - one of the greatest defensive defencemen of all time, hugely underrated player; would have been a hell of a great coach had he not died in that plane crash Fred Brathwaite - a bright light in an otherwise super-dark time Least favourite: James Neal - incredibly selfish, lazy, entitled player Trevor Kidd - came in feeling entitled to the starting goalie job, never ever lived up to his own hype, super childish about his playing time (especially splits with Tabaracci), no accountability for his incredibly streaky play, and easily the worst playoff goalie in Flames history Robert Reichel - was a shadow of the player he once was when he came back from the '94 lockout; as with Neal, selfish, lazy and entitled Sergei Makarov - big ego, moody and resentful; they honestly should have traded him in 1992 instead of letting him go to free agency and matching the Sharks' offer sheet Chris Drury - didn't want to be here Michael Nylander - moody, disinterested player; reminded me a lot of Reichel Adam Fox - never actually a Flames player, which is precisely why he's a "least favourite": didn't want to be here, so #### 'im Theoren Fleury - in retrospect there was a lot going on that we didn't know about, drug abuse and such, but the guy had a massive chip on his shoulder and was a toxic presence, especially after most of the other '89 Cup champions were gone Doug Gilmour - in retrospect I have a little more understanding for the guy, but what it really boils down to is he quit the team for money. He had a contract, didn't like it and wanted more, went to arbitration mid-season, didn't get what he wanted, overheard Doug Risebrough talking about trading him (because Risebrough was now in a financial bind), and he quite literally took some equipment home after the New Year's Eve game against the Habs and told the team he was done as a Calgary Flame. Remember this was an era where teams who won the Stanley Cup usually became dynasties—the Habs won 6/10 Cups in the '70s including four-in-a-row and were still super-competitive into the '90s, the Islanders won their four-in-a-row, the Oilers won 5/7 years from '84 to '90—it was still expected that the Flames would win a couple more Cups, would still be competitive for a long time, but two years post-'89-Cup and the team was already falling apart. Joe Nieuwendyk - similarly to Gilmour he had a contract in place, decided he was going to sit out and refuse to report rather than play the last year of the contract out, and forced a trade. Again, in retrospect I have a little more understanding in that the salaries were skyrocketing league-wide and if I was in the position he was in I might have bailed out on a relatively bad contract a year early too, but it stung a lot.