Who is the Worst Player in Flames History?

[droopydrew19]

I have always hated Paul Kruse. Wasnt good enough to be in the top 9 but had to be and SUCKED!!!

[hurtin_albertan]

Originally Posted by Metro Gnome

My favorite Anders Eriksson memory...

I went to one of the first home games of the year in 07-08. It was vs. Philly.

Anyways, game is tied in the third with less than a two minutes remaining. Anders is on the ice, he gets the puck in the shallow end of the Flames zone with both teams hustling off to change.

So this should be a gimme in terms of puck management. Hang on to it, flip it up the far side boards, circle behind the net, wait for support, etc.

What does Anders do? Circles towards the near boards, or where players from both teams are pouring off the bench. In no time Daniel Briere is top of him and because Flames players are changing too there's no obvious support structure for Eriksson to get rid of the puck quickly. So he more or less panics and flips the puck into traffic (or Briere or Gagne's pads, more or less). Danny grabs the loose puck and scores an easy one on the ensuing break away.

That was the game winning goal. A small taste of things to come.

I also remember that one, as well as getting into it with a poster on the cf.com forums who tried to defend the play...I thought it was about the worst decision that could have possibly been made. A prime example of exactly what NOT to do. Both teams were changing FFS, why not take it up the opposite boards and dump it in, at the very least. Such a simple play, messed up beyond recognition.

That's what irked me about Eriksson so bad, he was just such a dummy.

[hurtin_albertan]

Originally Posted by droopydrew19

I have always hated Paul Kruse. Wasnt good enough to be in the top 9 but had to be and SUCKED!!!

Decent scrapper though as I recall.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Blake Sloan.

Tim Ramholt. (Hopefully there is not a 1 minute minimum)

[Locke]

What always killed me was watching Anders on the powerplay.

That guy couldnt touch the puck if it was close to the boards. It was infuriating. So if hes playing the point, the opposition rings the puck off the boards on his side and it was guaranteed to go all 200 feet.

Hes a 5/6 Dman, WTF is he even doing on the Powerplay???

[DeanOMac]

Brennan Evans.

Our blue line got ravaged by injuries during the 03-04 playoff run and we were forced to call up yet another blue liner.

My memory is a bit fuzzy but I believe despite his 2GP stat, he only played a couple of shifts in one game and the second game he was dressed but didn't even touch the ice. Either way he looked extremely shaky in his limited time and there was good reason Sutter wouldn't play him.

He never made another NHL appearance (before or after) but he appears to still be a serviceable farm player in the AHL.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by dammage79

MMmmmm. I liked this guy I am about to bring up but Clarke Wilm. Gotta be in the running at least.

Nowhere close. Wilm was playing out of his role. In his role, he was pretty good.

[DAN0383]

Stewart Malgunas! He was horrible!

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

Gary Leeman
Kari Eloranta (I'd totally forgotten about him. Thanks a lot, Bertuzzied)
Anders Eriksson
Jonas Bergqvist(he played like 20 games in 1989-90, and just bugged me)
Tim Bernhardt

Speaking of Gary Leeman, that has to go down as one of the worst trades. After that Doug Riseborough got cold feet and didn't seem to want to make any trades.

To Toronto

Doug Gilmour, Ric Nattress, Kent Manderville, Jamie Macoun and Rick Wamsley

To Calgary

Gary Leeman, Jeff Reese, Michel Petit, Alexander Godynyuk and Craig Berube

[Mister Yamoto]

So many good, uhh, bad ones to chose from. This would make a great poll.

-Jason Wiemer is the all-time franchise leader in minus -41
-Raitis Ivanans first game his line was 0:01 ice time, -1, 5pm for a nearly career ending fight, his second game 1 1/2 years later was the 9-0 loss to the Bruins, and never played a third

My vote however goes to a guy who hasn't been mentioned yet. Hockey Hall of Fame member Grant Fuhr. As a Flame absolutely brutal.

5-13-2 3.83 GAA .856 SV%

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I was going to post Fotiu with Thompson and Lakovic but I figured that few here saw those two play let alont Fotiu. He wasn't even good at being a goon and terrible at the game of hockey.

I was going to mention Nick Fotiu but couldn't quite remember his name.

[Displaced Flames fan]

If we're talking about acquisitions that didn't pan out (I see a lot of Corbet talk etc.) that would hands down be Mike Leclerc. HORRRRRRIBAD.

Worst player would probably be Tyrone Garner. That was a lovely 3 game stretch.

[blazingZepplin]

Reading through all the names being thrown out here made me remember those dark year and all the fun i had playing on my nhl90's on playstaion 1. Made me puke a bit how we sucked those years

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Spuds_Buckley

Ruslan Zainullin?

Never played a game and we gave up Savard for him.

He was never a Flame though, we just had his rights.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Paul freakin' Baxter

Baxter was a pest and cheap-shot artist who really got under Gretzky's skin. A terrible hockey player, but he played a useful role in the Battle of Alberta.

Originally Posted by calumniate

I always thought Michel Petit was going to do something for us after the Gilmour trade, haha. So he was probably my most disappointing player (was pretty young and didn't know the stats or anything)

Petit was the quintessential 'all the tools, no toolbox' player. Huge, he could skate, great shot. I saw him absolute destroy a young Eric Lindros with an open-ice hit. Tremendously disappointing underachiever. But not terrible. At least not as terrible as:

Craig Coxe
Brian Glynn
Kevin Dahl
Thomas Forslund
Todd Hlushko
Pavel Torgaev

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by DeanOMac

Brennan Evans.

Just came here to post that. Luckily he scared the coaching staff out of giving him ice time pretty quickly.

[jammies]

Zyuzin was the worst regular player who wasn't just a goon. That guy made Ericksson look like Lidstrom. Of all the guys who played only a couple games, Ramholt has to be the worst. One shift in the NHL, -1.

Those of you picking Leeman are allowing emotion to cloud your thinking. The guy was a 3 time 30 goal scorer in the NHL, he may not have been very good for the Flames (to put it mildly) but he's not even in the conversation for "worst".

[Super-Rye]

Originally Posted by droopydrew19

I have always hated Paul Kruse. Wasnt good enough to be in the top 9 but had to be and SUCKED!!!

I have this vague memory of the Flames playing the Sharks, it was probably the 94-95 playoff game 7...it was probably even over time, and Paul Kruse was on the ice with the Flames buzzing around the net. Low and behold the puck ends up on his stick and he has a glorious opportunity to end it and just completely flubs it. I knew then that Paul Kruse was a terrible hockey player.

Or perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me and my complete dislike for Kruse is completely irrational.

[mikeecho]

In recent years...
- PL3 - Brent Sutter's pet project from NJ. Suspended 5 games in preseason and managed squat in the 3 regular season games he played.
- Ivanans - Played maybe 2 shifts total, -1, face smashed in by an Oiler

[Alberta_Beef]

The worst is clearly Brennan Evans. that kid that played in the playoffs in '04 because we were so injury riddled. But was never good enough to even warrant a regular season recall from any NHL team.