Who are your ten favourite (and least favourite) Flames ever?

[Cole436]

Faves

Iginla - What more needs to be said about the greatest Calgary Flame? He was a real life superhero when I was growing up. A champion and an even better man.

Kiprusoff - The best goalie we ever had, and an absolute treat to watch on and off the ice. His interviews will always make me chuckle.

Gaudreau - The torchbearer after the darkness of 2013. While his exit leaves a lot to be desired, his tenure as a Flame reignited hope in this franchise

Giordano - Class, hard work, and respect. I remember loving him in his first full-time season where he scored 2 goals against the Leafs in Toronto. A worthy successor to the captaincy.

Lombardi - Gamebreaking speed and a great personality. Lombo's breakaways are some of my favourite memories of that era of Flames.

Ference - How could you not love Andrew Ference? From making an account on these boards, to being an absolute warrior in the 04 run, he bled red, though and through.

Gelinas - The eliminator. Nuff said.

Conroy - One of the good guys of hockey and was a great part of our identity. I'll never forget his return back to Calgary where he scored twice on the team that traded him.

Backlund - The MVP of the last decade of Flames hockey. I hope we do something to honour him when he finally calls it a career.

Tkachuk - How could you not love that #### disturbing jackass? I loved watching him skate away with his mouthguard hanging out after he drew a penalty.


Least Favourite


Wideman - Just seemed like a complete jackass. He also put a massive target on our backs for over a year with the officials.

Eriksson - I never want to see any photos of video of him ever in a Flames uniform. How he did so much damage in the minutes he played will always confound me. He single handily lost game 7 against the Sharks.

SOB - #### SOB

Bertuzzi - #### Bertuzzi

Comeau - It's not his fault he was being utilized in roles he couldn't succeed in, but he sums up all the problems with the Brent Sutter Flames.

Ivanans - I hated this signing when it happened. He was a dangerous and predatory player. I've never wished ill on anyone, but I shed zero tears when he was suffered an injury and played a grand total of 2 games for the Flames over the course of 2 seasons.

Smith - A guy that couldn't take any accountability. Frustrating to watch and listen to.

Brouwer - Overpaid, lazy, and apparently a cancer in the room

Neal - See above

Bourque - The most frustrating on this list. I loved Bourque when we initially got him. He was at his best playing with the intensity of a 3rd line checker while chipping in with impressive offensive skill. But he changed his game and thought he could be a finesse, offensive guy. He lost all edge and just started floating on the ice taking lazy penalties and skating by opponents. He seemed petty mopey as well.

[KPat99]

Faves I couldn't keep it to 10

Fleury
Iggy
Kipper
Regher
Gio
Yelle
Niemenen(?)
Backlund
Lombardi
Braithwaite
Conroy
Stajan
Glencross
Camilerri
Gadreau
Monahan
Bennett

Least

Neal
Brouwer
Wideman
Simon
Nolan
Hagman
Marchment
Fuhr
Toskala
Jokinen

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

Favorite
5. Carey Wilson

Carey Wilson? Was it the haircut?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[camm13]

Top:
Iginla
Cammaleri
Kipper
Lombardi
Conroy
Gelinas
Tanguay
Lindholm
Brodie
Gio

Least:
Neal
Brouwer
Raymond
Wideman
Bertuzzi
Smith
Elliot
Huselius
Baerchi
Prust

[TheChief]

I thought about this thread the last few days and have came up with my list. I was born in 86 so missed the glory years...


Favorite (this is in order)



Fleury - Reason why I became a Flames Fan. Should be in rafters.

Regehr - Best D Ive ever seen play for the Flames. Was a true revelation after having both legs broken I believe after draft. Warrior for the team.

Yelle - Absolute warrior and 04 wouldn't have happened without his sometimes unsung contributions.

Kipper - Flames MVP for a solid 10 years.

Backlund - Probably the best drafted and developed player(in my time) the team has had all around. Unreal 2-way dominance, and always seems to pick it up when the games matter.

Giordano - In my opinion the best captain we have had.

Conroy - Great leader and a great player for us when he came from St.Louis.

Tanev - Only watched him a few years but what an underrated player in the league. Our best D.

Cammalleri - Scored like he did it before. Loved how he didn't celebrate, was a great flame his first stint.

Bertuzzi - The one that got away. That year the flames were built for a cup run. Bert was awesome and I wish he would have stuck around.

HM : Lucic



Least Fav


Drury - Never wanted to be here.

Monahan - Soft at butter. Never progressed after getting injuries.

Friesen - Grumpty exit interview, thought he was more then a plugger.

Russel - Went to Oilers.

Ryan - Went to Oilers.

Smith - Went to Oilers.

Ference - Circus in his own zone, an absolute nightmare to watch.

Brodie - Brodie much of the same as Ference, but at least showed a glimpse offensively from time to time.

Elliot - Siv

Gaudreau (Would have probably made favorite until this past summer)

[GioforPM]

Monahan was not “soft as butter”, as it turns out, and according to Gudbranson.

[TheChief]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Monahan was not “soft as butter”, as it turns out, and according to Gudbranson.

I mean...not to derail the thread but he got beat up by the tenderness.



I really soured on Monahan in the ducks series a few years back. Getzlaf came flying in to get Wideman off a teammate and Sean has the opportunity to grab him and hold on and he gingerly moved out of the way. Wideman ended up having to fight Getzlaf because of it. I'm not saying he wasn't a nice guy and that he didn't play through injuries and such, I didn't like his game since his Rookie season, happy to move on from that part of the core.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by TheChief

I mean...not to derail the thread but he got beat up by the tenderness.



I really soured on Monahan in the ducks series a few years back. Getzlaf came flying in to get Wideman off a teammate and Sean has the opportunity to grab him and hold on and he gingerly moved out of the way. Wideman ended up having to fight Getzlaf because of it. I'm not saying he wasn't a nice guy and that he didn't play through injuries and such, I didn't like his game since his Rookie season, happy to move on from that part of the core.

Monahan did not get beat up by RNH. In fact he was handily winning until he let up.

But your complaint is that Monahan wasn’t a “tough guy”? Eye roll.

Also, if you’re going to call a goalie a sieve, know the word.

[Britflamesfan]

Amazed how often Ville Nieminen has come up. I loved the guy and was hugely disappointed when Sutter did not even bother to contact him with regards to another contract. Anyhow lots of likes for a guy who only played less than half a season.

[mile]

Loved Niemo

https://twitter.com/user/status/1561870546345766922

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

A little disappointed there hasn't been more Mike Cammalleri appreciation ... he was excellent.

He had a good year.

Second stint, less effective and did that thing where he went down to shoot from one knee too often. If you’re going to get weird, and can’t hit the net / it isn’t more effective, then it’s not good for anyone.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by mile

Loved Niemo

https://twitter.com/user/status/1561870546345766922

Niemo was great.

As for that tweet, the greatest Flame did wear 24, but is more known for 12

[AC]

Niemo was a beauty.

[Saqe]

Wasn't it Nemo?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

He had a good year.

Second stint, less effective and did that thing where he went down to shoot from one knee too often. If you’re going to get weird, and can’t hit the net / it isn’t more effective, then it’s not good for anyone.

I’m not the only one who didn’t like that, eh? I also figured he was one dimensional and while I’m probably wrong about it, it always seemed like he racked up points outside of clutch time.

[timun]

Favourites:

1. Gary Roberts - absolute warrior, if not for injuries would probably be in discussion for the best "power forward" of all-time
2. Jarome Iginla - GOAT Flame
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. Tim Hunter - I just have fond memories of dust-ups in the '80s
8. Jiri Hudler - funny guy and fun player to watch
9. 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
10. Fred Brathwaite - a bright light in an otherwise super-dark time

Least favourite:

1. James Neal - incredibly selfish, lazy, entitled player
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. Chris Drury - didn't want to be here
6. Michael Nylander - moody, disinterested player; reminded me a lot of Reichel
7. Adam Fox - never actually a Flames player, which is precisely why he's a "least favourite": didn't want to be here, so #### 'im
8. 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
9. 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.
10. 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.

[Delgar]

There is so much awesome analysis in this thread, but none of which I agree with 100%. Still way better than listening to online radio. Some posters remember things I had forgotten.

Thank you all for a great read.

[Jore]

Iggy
Backlund
Kipper
Brodie
Gaudreau
Ferland
Tanguay
Regehr
Kylington
(HM: Glencross, Phaneuf, Mangiapane, Kadri hopefully by the time his contract is up)

Least favourite is hard, since most of the players I've found painful to watch were/are the result of management/coaching/scouting/slotting, but a few come to mind:

Bartkowski
Neal
Brouwer
Shane O'Brien
Wideman
edit: how could I forget Mike Smith

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by mile

Loved Niemo

https://twitter.com/user/status/1561870546345766922

kermitology: Jason are you wet?
Niemenen scores that first goal
Jiggy_12: I AM NOW!

One of my favourite memories of that run.