The Calgary Flames' best and worst trades in franchise history - The ...

Last up for our best and worst series is trades. If you follow the Calgary Flames, you’ll know they’ve had their fair share of blockbuster trades over the years. Most of those turned out not so great; however, there were a few big wins scattered throughout the years.

For this, we’ll be looking at both the immediate and long-term impact of the trades to determine what is good and what is bad. There were a ton of options to pick from here, but I tried to narrow it down to the two best and the two worst. Right off the top, I’ll mention that the Brett Hull trade doesn’t show up. The Flames may have given away one of the NHL’s best-ever goal scorers, but they won a Stanley Cup soon after, with the incoming Rob Ramage playing a big role in their playoff run. Banners hang forever, and the St. Louis Blues never won one with Hull.

Doug Gilmour to Toronto (January 1992)

Flames receive: F Gary Leeman, F Alex Godynyuk, F Craig Berube, D Michel Petit, G Jeff Reese

Maple Leafs receive: F Doug Gilmour, F Kent Manderville, D Ric Nattress, D Jamie Macoun, G Rick Wamsley

You knew it’d be here. The obvious choice for the worst trade in franchise history, this one was a disaster from day one. Due to a falling Canadian Dollar and a disgruntled star in Doug Gilmour, the Flames were backed into a corner during the 1991–92 season. With Gilmour looking to get paid and the Flames looking to do the opposite, Gilmour was shipped to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a boatload of assets. At the time, this was the largest deal in NHL history, with 10 players switching teams.

As mentioned above, this trade looked like a disaster from day one. The Flames not only gave up the clear best player in the trade in Gilmour, but they also shipped out some valuable assets in veteran Jamie Macoun and top prospect Kent Manderville for a bunch of spare parts. The highest-scoring player coming back to Calgary was Gary Leeman, who had just 20 points on the year at the time of the trade. The path to winning this deal was pretty much completely blocked from day one, outside of a miracle occurring.

As expected, a then 28-year-old Gilmour—who was very much still in his prime—would become a franchise icon in Toronto and one of the best players in the entire NHL over the next couple of years. He’d post multiple 100+ point seasons as a Maple Leaf as well as two playoff runs with over 25 points. In Calgary, all five players who came back in the deal would no longer be in Calgary by the summer of 1994, just two years after the deal. This is a trade that was doomed from day one and never had a chance of being successful for the Flames.

Marc Savard to Atlanta (November 2002)

Flames receive: F Ruslan Zainullin

Thrashers receive: F Marc Savard

The trade is one-for-one. A decade after the Gilmour debacle, the Flames would make yet another disastrous trade involving a talented centre heading out the door. For some added context on what led up to this trade, Marc Savard was feuding with then Flames head coach Greg Gilbert regarding his role on the team. Due to some injuries and Gilbert’s distrust of Savard, Savard’s ice time plummeted despite being the team’s best centre by a wide margin.

Before the trade and his feud with Gilbert, Savard had already posted seasons of 53 and 65 points in Calgary before his 24th birthday. When he was healthy, Savard looked like a potential future number-one centre for the Flames and a great fit alongside sniper Jarome Iginla. For whatever reason, Gilbert didn’t agree, and Savard slowly saw his role on the team diminish during the 2001–02 season and especially at the start of the 2002–03 season. Early into the season, the Flames would send Savard packing—reportedly at Gilbert’s request—to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for obscure Russian prospect Ruslan Zainullin. To make matters even worse, General Manager Craig Button would then fire head coach Gilbert just two weeks after trading Savard anyway.

Savard would go on to develop into one of the league’s premier playmaking centres over the next few years, posting 501 points in 488 games before concussions ended his career early in 2011. Zainullin, meanwhile? Well, he would never even come over to North America and didn’t log a single game in Calgary. Even at the time of the deal, Zainullin’s career-high in Russia was just four points. I’m not sure what Craig Button saw in Zainullin, but whatever it was, it blew up in his face.

The Flames’ best trades The Flames acquire Doug Gilmour (September 1988)

Flames receive: F Doug Gilmour, F Mark Hunter, F Steve Bozek, D Mike Dark

Blues receive: F Mike Bullard, F Craig Coxe, D Tim Corkery

Four years before executing arguably the worst trade in franchise history by trading Gilmour away, the Flames executed arguably the best trade in franchise history by bringing Gilmour to Calgary. At a time in which the Flames were firing on all cylinders and looking to get over the hump with a juggernaut roster, then general manager Cliff Fletcher went all-in and acquired a then 25-year-old Doug Gilmour. Gilmour was just two years removed from a 105-point season at the time of the trade and was just entering his prime. He was exactly the piece the team needed to take the next step.

Gilmour would fit like a glove in Calgary, giving the team another deadly option down the middle of the ice for the 1988–89 season. In his first season in Calgary, Gilmour would put up 85 points in 72 games to finish third in team scoring and 22 points in 22 playoff games. He’d be a crucial part of their 1989 Cup-winning playoff run and one of the main reasons they were able to go all the way that year.

On top of Gilmour’s success in Calgary, another big victory with this deal is the fact the Flames gave up pretty much nothing of value the other way. The main piece going to St. Louis was Mike Bullard, who was coming off a gigantic 103-point season with the Flames. Despite his previous success, he’d play just 20 games in St. Louis and put up 16 points before being traded. The Flames also received Mark Hunter in the deal, who became a physical presence for the team in their Cup run. This deal was a huge win on all fronts.

The Flames acquire Miikka Kiprusoff (November 2003)

Flames receive: G Miikka Kiprusoff

Sharks receive: 2005 conditional draft pick (Marc-Edouard Vlasic)

Darryl Sutter may have been on the wrong end of most of the trades he made, but he did have the rare hit. In the case of his 2003 trade that brought in goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, he hit an absolute homerun and pulled off one of the best trades in franchise history. Without this trade, the Flames’ 2004 Cup run never happens.

In need of some help in net, Sutter dialed up his former team—the San Jose Sharks—and pulled off a deal for then 27-year-old Miikka Kiprusoff. At the time, Kiprusoff had just 48 games of NHL experience, with some rather middling results. He was very much an unknown between the pipes and had never really shown he could be an NHL starter, let alone a perennial Vezina candidate. For whatever reason, Sutter saw something in Kiprusoff that almost no one else did.

Kiprusoff’s rise to stardom in Calgary was pretty much immediate. In his first season as a Flame, he’d put up 24 wins in 38 starts, along with a ridiculous .933 save percentage. That same season, he’d go on a historic run in the playoffs, single-handedly carrying the Flames to within one goal of a Stanley Cup title. He’d end the playoff with 26 games played, 15 wins, an insane 1.85 GAA, and five shutouts.

Over the course of the next nine years, Kiprusoff would become the backbone of the Calgary Flames and end his career as the best goaltender in franchise history. Even with the Sharks landing eventual defensive mainstay Marc-Edouard Vlasic with the pick received for Kiprusoff, this trade was still a massive success for Calgary and changed the course of Flames history.

Some hits and some misses

In terms of blockbuster trades, the Flames have, more often than not, come out on the wrong end of deals. The franchise has a long past of giving away star talent for pennies, giving up too early on young talent, and simply making bad decisions on the trade market. With that said, there have also been some gigantic wins on the trade market as well, which, as seen above, have shifted the course of the Flames’ history. If you’ve watched any preseason hockey thus far, Craig Conroy is well on his way to joining the best list with his Elias Lindholm return.