The Wayback Machine

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I was trying to remember who "Rick" was, until I looked at the roster and saw Tabaracci. Man, how soon we forget.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

One other thing about that year is that while Fleury and a couple other guys were really good, there was no depth at all on that team. We face the opposite problem this year of no elite talent, but a bunch of really good depth players for any team. If only we can get some big performances out of our young stars, we will be back in the playoffs in no time.*




*dreaming I know.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Despite all this talk of "Young Guns 2", the 2013-14 Flames will mostly be NHL vets in their prime. Backlund will likely be the only guy in the top-6 who isn't 30 or older.

The goaltending tandem will have an average age of 30.

The defence will be the only place with any significant youth movement.

Man, hats off to anyone who was inspired to start a Flames website back then. That line-up inspires me to drink.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

One other thing about that year is that while Fleury and a couple other guys were really good, there was no depth at all on that team. We face the opposite problem this year of no elite talent, but a bunch of really good depth players for any team. If only we can get some big performances out of our young stars, we will be back in the playoffs in no time.*




*dreaming I know.

depth with no stars is how the Panthers made the playoffs in 2012.

[handgroen]

Originally Posted by Bingo

love looking back at this site

http://web.archive.org/web/200208281....com/index.htm

really cool to see all the OG posters on that old forum. a real tribute to know CP's retained quality people for that long

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by BACKCHECK!!!

Despite all this talk of "Young Guns 2", the 2013-14 Flames will mostly be NHL vets in their prime. Backlund will likely be the only guy in the top-6 who isn't 30 or older.

The goaltending tandem will have an average age of 30.

The defence will be the only place with any significant youth movement.

Man, hats off to anyone who was inspired to start a Flames website back then. That line-up inspires me to drink.

In fairness, I really see Stemps/Cammi etc; getting traded for assets as the season moves on and at the deadline.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by stignasty

I was just looking at the earliest archived calgaryflames.com page on the wayback machine. Dark times.
http://web.archive.org/web/19980205085240/http://www.calgaryflames.com/

Originally Posted by Bingo

love looking back at this site

http://web.archive.org/web/20020828193855/http://calgarypuck.com/index.htm

Oh wow. This is going back. Great stuff. If possible CP should go back to that look for a week or so. I recall that ESPN did that for its 25th anniversary.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Bingo

love looking back at this site

http://web.archive.org/web/200208281....com/index.htm

Yes! Found the Snotboy story:

http://web.archive.org/web/200209231...?TOPIC_ID=4068

And for what it's worth, five out of the six posters in that thread are still here!

[Joker]

Originally Posted by BloodFetish

Was that absolutely necessary....again?

Gets Funnier every time!

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Bingo

love looking back at this site

http://web.archive.org/web/200208281....com/index.htm

Some great throwbacks there. Jordon (now Bouw and Arrow), Elvis99, frostymug, FBI, Adam_Peddle (now MrMastadonFarm), THunter, fleuryfan....

... had no idea there was poster named The Anal-Retentive Freedom Fighter.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Bingo

love looking back at this site

http://web.archive.org/web/200208281....com/index.htm

Some of those articles feel strangely familiar...

When a team is woeful on the ice, it's nice to have a young roster to fall back on. With youth comes potential, and with potential you find hope.

In fact, the management of the Calgary Flames two Western Canadian rivals used the age card to wrap up their seasons, and put a positive spin on the future of their franchises.

Edmonton: "We have the youngest team in the NHL and we're definitely good enough to compete and win in the NHL playoffs," said Oilers president Patrick LaForge. "I don't think anybody wanted to play against us."

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Bingo

love looking back at this site

http://web.archive.org/web/200208281....com/index.htm

Wow, that is quite the nifty collage of players you had there. All it needs is some macaroni glued to it to really up the ante.

[icarus]

Very fascinating to look back at previous results in light of the current prospect ranking exercise, CP's Potential Analysis year 2000 edition:

The Forwards

Team Rank / Player Information / Calgarypuck Ratings (Min Max % Votes)
1st Oleg Saprykin lw 6.00 195lb 1st '99 Saint John 4.4 4.0 5.0 100%
4th Rico Fata rw 5.11 202lb 1st '98 Saint John 3.4 2.5 4.0 100%
5th Daniel Tkaczuk c 6.01 195lb 1st '97 Saint John 3.3 3.0 4.0 100%
6th Jarret Stoll rw 6.01 200lb 2nd '00 Kootenay-WHL 3.2 3.0 3.5 40%
8th Blair Betts c 6.01 200lb 2nd '98 Saint John-AHL 2.9 2.0 3.5 90%
11th Sergei Varlamov lw 5.11 180lb FA Saint John-AHL 2.6 2.0 3.0 50%
n/a Chris Clark rw 6.00 202lb 3rd '94 Cgy/Saint John 2.5 2.5 2.5 10%

The Defence

3rd Toni Lydman d 6.01 200lb 4th '96 Helsinki 3.6 3.0 4.0 100%
7th Kurtis Foster d 6.05 205lb 2nd '00 Peterborough 3.1 2.0 4.0 80%
9th Dmitri Kokorev d 6.03 198lb 2nd '97 Dynamo Moscow 2.9 2.0 3.5 60%
10th Paul Manning d 6.04 205lb 3rd '98 Colorado U. 2.8 2.0 3.0 60%
11th Darrel Scoville d 6.03 215lb 5th '96 Saint John 2.6 2.0 3.0 50%
14th Chris St. Croix d 6.03 200lb 4th '97 Saint John 2.5 2.0 3.0 40%
14th Jesse Cooke d 6.05 215lb 5th '99 Denver (NCAA) 2.5 2.0 3.0 30%
16th Wade Davis d 6.04 190lb 5th '00 Calgary WHL 2.3 2.0 2.5 40%
n/a Micki Dupont d 5.09 180lb 9th '00 Kamploops WHL 2.3 1.0 3.0 10%

The Goaltenders

2nd Brent Krahn g 6.04 200lb 1st '00 Calgary-WHL 3.7 3.0 4.0 100%
13th Levente Szuper g 5.11 175lb 4th '00 Saint John 2.6 1.0 3.0 90%
17th Matt Underhill g 6.02 195lb 6th '99 Cornell U. 2.3 2.0 2.5 20%
19th Sean Matile g 6.04 205lb FA Saint John 2.0 1.0 3.0 20%
19th Craig Anderson g 6.02 174lb 3rd '99 Guelph 2.0 2.0 2.0 30%
21st Tyrone Garner g 6.01 165lb trade Johnstown 1.0 1.0 1.0 20%
n/a Danny Sabourin g 6.04 190lb 4th '98 Sherbrooke 1.0 1.0 1.0 10%

[cannon7]

I remember those dark days, I remember when Stillman was considered the future of the franchise and Iginla was just in the periphery. I also remember people thinking Wiemer would develop into a star and future captain. We knew our D was terrible, though. In those dark days our delusions were more focused on the "young guns", nobody tought Hulse would lead us anywhere. The Vernon re-tread still makes me cringe.