Franchise Best: Calgary Flames 1988-89 Season

[Commandant]

The Franchise Best Series comes to you to dive into the all-time best single season for every organization. This, of course, includes post-season results. Join us for a look back at some of the most memorable moments in each franchise’s history. Here is the Calgary Flames best season.

http://lastwordonhockey.com/2018/07/...lames-1988-89/

[EastCoastFlamesFan]

Nice! What a squad. Man so many beauties on that team. Insane Depth. A lot of people also forget that we had a pretty stacked Salt Lake City team from the late 80s to the early 90s as well. A damn shame we didn't win another one. I feel like those 90 and 91 teams had Cup caliber teams only to lay an egg in the playoffs.

On a separate note, coming as a guy who grew up in New England and has lived on the east coast ever since--this 89 team seems to always be severely underrated from a general hockey fan perspective. I don't know if it's the fact that everyone thinks of the Oilers run then the Penguins mini dynasty, but this team is greatly underappreciated sometimes even forgotten about. Is that just an east coast thing? I think it is easy to say that the 89 Flames are one of the best hockey teams every assembled, and that is all bias aside.

[Red Slinger]

It was a dominant team. The only weakness really was their mental fortitude/coaching. Once they got past Vancouver in the first round the team really seemed to come together and understood what it would take to win.

I think if the team had someone other than Crisp they would have continued their dominance. Of course, once Cliff Fletcher left and was replaced by Risebrough the team fell to pieces. It could be argued that they still haven't recovered from that horrible mismanagement although Treliving seems to have stabilized the franchise somewhat.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

It was a dominant team. The only weakness really was their mental fortitude/coaching. Once they got past Vancouver in the first round the team really seemed to come together and understood what it would take to win.

I think if the team had someone other than Crisp they would have continued their dominance. Of course, once Cliff Fletcher left and was replaced by Risebrough the team fell to pieces. It could be argued that they still haven't recovered from that horrible mismanagement although Treliving seems to have stabilized the franchise somewhat.

My only regret from that season was that Badger Bob didn't get to reap the rewards of his work.


That and I guess wondering what would have happened with Hull for years later (but without Ramage to fill in for Suter).

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

My only regret from that season was that Badger Bob didn't get to reap the rewards of his work.

Agreed. But he ended up doing okay.

That and I guess wondering what would have happened with Hull for years later (but without Ramage to fill in for Suter).

The justification for the Hull-Ramage trade is that the Flames won the Cup with Ramage. But honestly, he didn't play a big role and I suspect they would have done just as well with Hull, likely even better in future years. For my 15 year old self at the time of the trade, Hull was my favorite player so it kinda sucked.

[Johnny Makarov]

How much longer would Hull have lasted in Calgary though? Cdn dollar was tanking and contracts were going up.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

How much longer would Hull have lasted in Calgary though? Cdn dollar was tanking and contracts were going up.

True, but Hull would have been even more established at that point and the return would have been better. Of course, this presupposes that there was a more competent GM in place than Risebrough.

[GioforPM]

Ramage finished with 12 points in 20 PO games, second to Macinnis for defencemen. His PPG was pretty much what Suter's was before he got hurt. I think he filled in quite admirably. But he was gone the next year.

Sometimes I think that, at the time of that trade, they didn't have 100% confidence in Vernon and Walmsley was a much bigger factor in the trade than people now think.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Ramage finished with 12 points in 20 PO games, second to Macinnis for defencemen. His PPG was pretty much what Suter's was before he got hurt. I think he filled in quite admirably. But he was gone the next year.

Sometimes I think that, at the time of that trade, they didn't have 100% confidence in Vernon and Walmsley was a much bigger factor in the trade than people now think.

They had confidence in Vernon, but not much in Dadswell, hence the trade for a backup. The sad part is they had given away an excellent backup in Rejean Lemelin at the start of the '87-88 season.
I agree that Ramage was important in the '89 Cup run, but the trade was made to win in '88, and for that year the trade was a disaster: Ramage wasn't a great help in '88, Wamsley was injured and a non-factor; so in addition to losing Hull's potential scoring power, the Flames also lost their best checking forward in the trade, and got swept by the Oilers.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

They had confidence in Vernon, but not much in Dadswell, hence the trade for a backup. The sad part is they had given away an excellent backup in Rejean Lemelin at the start of the '87-88 season.
I agree that Ramage was important in the '89 Cup run, but the trade was made to win in '88, and for that year the trade was a disaster: Ramage wasn't a great help in '88, Wamsley was injured and a non-factor; so in addition to losing Hull's potential scoring power, the Flames also lost their best checking forward in the trade, and got swept by the Oilers.

All good points, though I am not sure Bozek was a better checking forward than Patterson, Tonelli, Otto, or Peplinksi.

[JD]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

the Flames also lost their best checking forward in the trade, and got swept by the Oilers.

Actually I don't think the Flames lost Joel Otto until the mid-nineties...

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

All good points, though I am not sure Bozek was a better checking forward than Patterson, Tonelli, Otto, or Peplinksi.

I somehow think he is a little biased... haha
Losing Otto hurt a lot!

[CSharp]

Even though Ramage might not have seemed like a good value for Hull on that trade, the Blues gave the Flames the depth that was needed to win the Cup. Looking back at the '86 Cup loss to the Canadiens, the defensive depth wasn't there. That second time around, the Flames had a towering defensive corps to match the offensive threats up front. That was a stacked team.

You can almost argue that the Blues got Hull, Bullard, and Steve Bozek for Nattress, Ramage, Wamsley, Gilmore, Mark Hunter, and Joe Mullen. I think even with Wasmsley being thrown in as a free token backup, that trade still stands in Flames favor 10 times out of 10. That's one full top 6 forward line and a full top 4 defensive line with size!

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

All good points, though I am not sure Bozek was a better checking forward than Patterson, Tonelli, Otto, or Peplinksi.

Not denying Otto's importance, but Bozek was an Oiler killer as a checking forward (hence my choice of a handle). He was a big part of the Johnson plan for handling the Oilers' star wingers (as was Otto as a centre against Messier).
Bozek and Hull starred for St Louis in the '88 playoffs, and as noted earlier, in the '88 playoffs, Wamsley was a non-factor, and Ramage wasn't a standout.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by CSharp

Even though Ramage might not have seemed like a good value for Hull on that trade, the Blues gave the Flames the depth that was needed to win the Cup. Looking back at the '86 Cup loss to the Canadiens, the defensive depth wasn't there. That second time around, the Flames had a towering defensive corps to match the offensive threats up front. That was a stacked team.

You can almost argue that the Blues got Hull, Bullard, and Steve Bozek for Nattress, Ramage, Wamsley, Gilmore, Mark Hunter, and Joe Mullen. I think even with Wasmsley being thrown in as a free token backup, that trade still stands in Flames favor 10 times out of 10. That's one full top 6 forward line and a full top 4 defensive line with size!

Not sure we should be mixing trades over a 4 season span, but you're right, apart from giving them a Hart trophy winner, the Flames got the best return from St. Louis. The Gilmour trade was the key to the '89 Cup and it was an absolute steal, but probably influenced by the off-ice issues with Gilmour, and the fact Bullard was a multi-year top-level sniper.
The Flames unloaded Bullard at just the right time - he hit his prime with Calgary and never was the same after leaving the Flames - maybe McSorely's attempt to disembowel him in the '88 playoffs contributed to the decline.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

The sad part is they had given away an excellent backup in Rejean Lemelin at the start of the '87-88 season.

Unfortunately, they had little choice. Lemelin never accepted his demotion to backup, and once it became clear that Vernon was the starting goalie for the foreseeable future, he wanted out. Other GMs thought Lemelin was over the hill, so Cliff Fletcher was not able to trade him and simply had to give him his release.

[EVERLAST]

I loved that team and the swagger they had. Those were the days where the rivalry was insane.
I loved our defence of Chopper, Suter, Ramage, Macoun,sarge, Murzyn .....all mean and surly if they had to be.

Loved watching our smaller players absolutely dominate . Loob and Mullen amazed me with how tough they were.

Mullen got bounced around allot and always got up.
Loob after playing with Joe and Gary learned he could do whatever he wanted and didn't shy away from the hook's and slashes he'd get by giving back as good as he got.

Glad they won it in 89 as 86 was heartbreaking.

[zukes]

After reading this I went down a wormhole and went over, pretty much game by game through the 80's and early 90's on hockey reference. Man, hockey was so much better back then, the goals and PIM's were crazy! I swear I remember watching so many of the games that I reviewed as a young zukes, details came flooding back. In particular this game here, the year after the Cup: https://www.hockey-reference.com/box...910170QUE.html

5 goals in last 6:33 including 3 goals in 27 seconds and then 2 shorties, 4 seconds apart to tie the game with 11 seconds left at 8-8!

I also looked at 2003-2004 just to make it hurt more, the changes in the scores is insane.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

Not sure we should be mixing trades over a 4 season span, but you're right, apart from giving them a Hart trophy winner, the Flames got the best return from St. Louis. The Gilmour trade was the key to the '89 Cup and it was an absolute steal, but probably influenced by the off-ice issues with Gilmour, and the fact Bullard was a multi-year top-level sniper.
The Flames unloaded Bullard at just the right time - he hit his prime with Calgary and never was the same after leaving the Flames - maybe McSorely's attempt to disembowel him in the '88 playoffs contributed to the decline.

Don’t forget Mullen was from the Blues too.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

Not denying Otto's importance, but Bozek was an Oiler killer as a checking forward (hence my choice of a handle). He was a big part of the Johnson plan for handling the Oilers' star wingers (as was Otto as a centre against Messier).
Bozek and Hull starred for St Louis in the '88 playoffs, and as noted earlier, in the '88 playoffs, Wamsley was a non-factor, and Ramage wasn't a standout.

Otto shut down Messier well, especially after whistles. Tonelli was also acquired specifically for the Oilers. Patterson was a Selke finalist in 89.