One time Flame Mel Bridgman has passed away

[Rejean31]

Only 70 years old. RIP Mel. One of my all time favorite Flames.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Former first over-all.

[Snuffleupagus]

Damn, one hell of a guy. He was a friend of my uncles for a couple of years while in Calgary. funny story as it never would happen today but on game day he would drop into the old Calico club for 2 or 3 drinks on the way to the game.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Funny story about Bridgeman from an old buddy of mine. He was doing a story on Bridgeman for the student paper. This is while the Flames were still playing out of the Corral. I guess the barn was booked that day so the Flames held a practice at some community rink. Anyways, Bridgeman insisted on driving my buddy's car back to the Corral afterwards, in full hockey gear (minus skates and lid).

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Former first over-all.

One of only 4 first over-alls to play for the Flames (Ramage, Nolan, and Hamrlik being the other 3).


Also, one of the all-time great examples of bad airbrushing by O-Pee-Chee in that era of hockey cards...

[looooob]

interesting of course that the Flyers were back to back Stanley Cup champs and still managed to get their first OV


of course back then teams didn't really embrace the tank and were always shooting themselves in the foot to get better quickly- so I believe the Flyers packaged Bill Clement and the 18 OV to get the 1st- imagine a trade like that now?


1975 was a weird draft, Mel didn't really underwhelm as 1 OV- only Dave Taylor played more games and only Taylor and Dennis Maruk had more points


Flames got serious when they acquire both Mel (who was more or less our leading scorer that year once he arrived) and Lanny in that 2nd season in Calgary. shame he wasn't around longer

[looooob]

Originally Posted by getbak

One of only 4 first over-alls to play for the Flames (Ramage, Nolan, and Hamrlik being the other 3).

and Barry Gibbs with Atlanta, although those pre-Perreault drafts were sort of a different beast

[Ped]

He was also the first GM of the Senators, and oversaw the expansion draft where their laptop battery was dead and they had to make selections based on memory. This led to the Sens attempting to draft 3 ineligible players, including CJ Young from Calgary.

[calgaryred]

Originally Posted by getbak

One of only 4 first over-alls to play for the Flames (Ramage, Nolan, and Hamrlik being the other 3).





Also, one of the all-time great examples of bad airbrushing by O-Pee-Chee in that era of hockey cards...

Wasn't Neidermayer a first overall?

Sent from my SM-S711U1 using Tapatalk

[looooob]

Originally Posted by calgaryred

Wasn't Neidermayer a first overall?

Sent from my SM-S711U1 using Tapatalk

5th

[FlamingHomer]

I was a linesman for a few of his games when he played for Victoria in junior. He was a force even then.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

He had a mug that was hard to forget.

[trublmaker]

Originally Posted by FlamingHomer

I was a linesman for a few of his games when he played for Victoria in junior. He was a force even then.

i remember watching cougars games when Bridgman and Rick Lapointe played there. God i feel old now, also worked on the saddle dome as a young carpenter

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Ped

He was also the first GM of the Senators, and oversaw the expansion draft where their laptop battery was dead and they had to make selections based on memory. This led to the Sens attempting to draft 3 ineligible players, including CJ Young from Calgary.

Loved him as a player but had no business being in the front office. Got his mba but how you get a job as a GM without any front office experience is beyond stupid. Shame on the Sens for setting him up to fail.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by The Original FFIV

Loved him as a player but had no business being in the front office. Got his mba but how you get a job as a GM without any front office experience is beyond stupid. Shame on the Sens for setting him up to fail.

Still happens.


Kevyn Adams was was an assistant coach for the Sabres for 2 years before getting fired. Later, he was hired as the Senior Vice President for Business Administration, and a year later, he was the GM.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Ped

Still happens.


Kevyn Adams was was an assistant coach for the Sabres for 2 years before getting fired. Later, he was hired as the Senior Vice President for Business Administration, and a year later, he was the GM.

That’s 3 more seasons of experience than Bridgman had. But probably equivalent to what riser had before he got the keys to the car.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by The Original FFIV

That’s 3 more seasons of experience than Bridgman had. But probably equivalent to what riser had before he got the keys to the car.

Risebrough was Fletcher's assistant GM for a year or two. His management training got derailed when he was pushed into being the coach… and he wasn't good enough at either coaching or GMing to handle both jobs at once.

[Ped]

That’s 3 more seasons of experience than Bridgman had. But probably equivalent to what riser had before he got the keys to the car.

Don't think that's really front-office experience, but the Sens were really a shambles to start.


He did make some good trades, swapping Jim Thomson (4 career goals) and Marc Fortier (42 career goals in 212 games) for Bob Kudelski (47 goals in 90 games in Ottawa) and Shawn McCosh.


Also picked up Jody Hull for basically nothing


He also traded Brad Miller to Toronto for the draft pick that turned into Pavol Demitra.

[Aarongavey]

Sad news, he was a family friend of my parents and I basically got to spend most of the first 11 years of my life in NHL dressing rooms on the days when his teams came to town. Would meet the team in the morning/watch morning skate and then watch the Flames or the Oilers pound them in the evening for most of the 80’s.

Leading scorer on the 81/82 Flames but don’t remember much of his Flames time but my parents got lots of pics with me with the team from 81-83.

[Trolleydodger]

I remember when They traded Brad Marsh for him. A rare captain for captain trade. The first game the flyers played here after the trade was a wild game. I think it ended up 9-8 or 9-7.