Calgary Flames News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Al MacInnis, former Calgary Flame (THW Archives)

Calgary Flames’ Best Canadian Players of All-Time

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Derek Olsen | Last updated Dec 20, 2024 10:25 AM ET

We are nearing the halfway mark of the 2024-25 NHL season, and as per usual there has already been a plethora of fantastic games and lots of drama. However, this season has lots of fans eagerly awaiting what would normally have been the All-Star Break. This season it will instead mark the return of best-on-best international hockey with the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. Teams Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland most recently announced their full rosters for the event, sparking plenty of debates over which team looks the best on paper and which players were left out, among other topics.

The Calgary Flames will have one lone representative: defenseman Rasmus Andersson will play for Sweden. Over the team’s history, they have had a multitude of talented players to hail from each nation. Our series analyzing said players will come to its end as we look at the greatest individuals to represent both the Flames as well as the fourth and final country: Canada. The Great White North proved to somehow be simultaneously the most difficult and simplest list to create. Here are the greatest Flames from Canada.

5. Joe Nieuwendyk, Forward

First on our list is legendary forward Joe Nieuwendyk. The Oshawa, Ontario native was selected by the Flames in the second round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. After finishing his college hockey career at Cornell University and playing a few games for the Canadian National Team, Nieuwendyk joined the Flames for the remainder of the 1986-87 season. He scored five goals and six points in nine regular season games as well as four points in six playoff games. For his first full season, Nieuwendyk came out of the gate scorching hot (pun intended); he finished his rookie campaign with 51 goals and 92 points in 75 games. This won him the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s best rookie.

Nieuwendyk quickly became one of the focal points of the Flames’ deadly offence during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He next put up another 50-goal season and added 10 goals and 14 points in 22 playoff games en route to the Flames’ first-ever Stanley Cup in 1989. Nieuwendyk played six more seasons and either led or finished in the top three of team scoring each campaign. Unfortunately, a contract dispute kept him out of the 1995-96 season and forced the Flames to trade him to the Dallas Stars. His return package included a young prospect named Jarome Iginla. Nieuwendyk played another 11 seasons split between the Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers. He won the Stanley Cup with the Stars (1999) and the Devils (2003). In his Flames tenure, Nieuwendyk totalled 314 goals (third all-time) and 616 points (fourth) in 577 contests.

4. Mark Giordano, Defence

Next up is a more recent Flames great, Toronto-born defenceman Mark Giordano. The 41-year-old has not yet officially retired from the NHL, though he has not suited up for a game since 2023-24 and is currently an unrestricted free agent. Nonetheless, “Gio” is held in very high regard amongst Flames fans due to the immensely positive on and off-ice impacts he made during his time with the franchise. He battled to get to the NHL, going undrafted but getting an invite to Flames camp in 2004. Giordano earned a spot with the team’s American Hockey League affiliate and played there for two seasons before making his NHL debut with the Flames in 2006. After a one-year hiatus overseas, Giordano never looked back and patrolled the Flames blue line for the next 13 seasons.

Giordano was named the franchise’s 19th captain in 2013, rewarded for his loyalty, determination, and solid all-situations play. Like a fine wine, he got even better with age; he was named an NHL All-Star in 2015, 2016, and 2020 and set career highs with 21 goals at 32 years of age, and 74 points when he was 35. That same season, he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s best defender. The Flames left him unprotected during the 2021 Expansion Draft and the Seattle Kraken chose him, naming him their first-ever captain shortly thereafter. He played for them as well as the Maple Leafs up until the end of the 2023-24 season. As a Flame, Giordano has the most games played (949), game-winning goals (23), and shorthanded goals by a defender (10), and has 143 goals and 509 points in all. He also has the most blocked shots (1,792) and hits (1,057) in franchise history.

3. Al MacInnis, Defence

Third on our list is another rearguard, Al MacInnis. Born and raised on Cape Breton Island, the Flames chose him 15th overall in 1981. MacInnis hopped back and forth between the Flames, junior and the minors from 1981-83 before finally sticking for good in the 1983-84 season. Like others on this list, he was effective from the get-go. He put up 11 goals and 45 points in 51 games as a rookie, and added 14 points in 11 playoff matches. MacInnis quickly rose to the top pairing on the Flames and was revered for his booming slap shot. His four goals and 19 points in 21 games helped get the Flames to the 1986 Stanley Cup Final, where they bowed out to the Montreal Canadiens.

With the next opportunity, MacInnis stepped up big time. He scored seven goals and a whopping 31 points in 22 games during the Flames’ 1989 Stanley Cup victory run. This superhuman effort earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He took his play to yet another level over the next five seasons, scoring 20 or more goals in four of them. He established a career-best 28 goals, 75 assists and 103 points in 78 appearances. All three figures stand as the all-time best season totals for Flames defencemen. As a restricted free agent in 1994, MacInnis signed an offer sheet with the St. Louis Blues. The Flames wouldn’t match it, and instead took back blueliner Phil Housley and two second-round picks as compensation. After ten years with the Blues, MacInnis retired in 2004. He is still the all-time leader in goals (213), assists (609) and points (822), among various other records, amongst Flames defencemen in 803 total games.

2. Theoren Fleury, Forward

In second is a name synonymous with the Flames, Theoren Fleury. Though he was born in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, he was primarily raised in Russell, Manitoba. After a stellar stretch in junior that saw him rack up 133 goals and 179 assists in 209 games, the Flames chose him 166th overall in 1987. He dropped in the draft due to his diminutive stature; he stood at 5-foot-6 and weighed just 180 pounds. With a chip on his shoulder, a rookie Fleury proved doubters wrong by scoring 14 goals and 34 points in 36 games in 1988-89. As a secondary scoring option, he added 11 points in 22 playoff games to help the Flames win the Stanley Cup in his first season in the NHL.

Fleury carried the momentum forward; he swiftly climbed the depth chart and became the Flames’ number one offensive threat. This culminated in a career-high 51 goals and 104 points in the 1990-91 campaign. He then famously scored an overtime goal against the rival Edmonton Oilers in the 1991 Playoffs, and celebrated by sliding the length of the ice and into the boards.

For the next eight seasons, he scored at least 27 goals and 58 points in each, including the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign. Fleury also served as team captain from 1995-96 until 1997-98. He was selected as an NHL All-Star a whopping six times. Like Nieuwendyk, the Flames and Fleury faced some contract issues which led the franchise to trade him to the Colorado Avalanche for a package that included a young Robyn Regehr. Fleury suited up there, for the New York Rangers, and the Chicago Blackhawks before heading overseas from 2004-2008. He attempted an NHL comeback with the Flames in 2009, but it unfortunately fell short and he decided to announce his retirement. Fleury finished with 364 goals (second) and 830 points (second) in 791 games for the Flames.

1. Jarome Iginla, Forward

From rival territory Edmonton, Alberta, Iginla is the obvious choice for the best Canadian Flame of all time. He is hands-down the greatest player to ever don the Flaming ‘C’. As previously mentioned, the Stars originally drafted Iginla from the storied Kamloops Blazers franchise and traded him to Cowtown for Nieuwendyk. “Iggy” cracked the roster for the 1996-97 season and finished second in Calder Trophy voting after scoring 21 goals and 50 points in 82 games. He officially became a superstar five seasons later, when he led the NHL with a career-high 52 goals and 96 points in 82 games. This netted him the Art Ross Trophy, the Maurice Richard Trophy, and the Lester B. Pearson Award. Fast forward two years later and the newly-named captain famously helped take the Flames all the way to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, where they “lost” to the Tampa Bay Lightning (it was in). Iginla had 13 goals and 22 points.

Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames (Icon SMI)

Iginla was a model of consistency over the next seven seasons as he scored at least 32 goals and 67 points in each whilst only missing 12 games in total. In fact, he became one of just seven players in NHL history to score 30 or more goals in 11 consecutive seasons. He had another 50 goals and scored the highest point total of his career with 98 in 2007-08. Unfortunately, the Flames never made it out of the first round of the playoffs or didn’t qualify at all during this period. Needing a change, the franchise reluctantly shipped Iginla off to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013 to pursue a Stanley Cup. Sadly, this didn’t transpire with the Penguins, nor the Boston Bruins or Los Angeles Kings, all of whom Iginla played for before calling it quits in 2018. He is still the Flames all-time leader in games played (1,219), goals (525), points (1,095), and game-winning goals (83), among many other statistics. He was also a seven-time All-Star and the longest-tenured captain in Flames history.

Once again, these lists are difficult to make due to the mass amount of available talent from each nation to pick from. The Flames have lucked out with Canadians specifically, as these five men are just a fraction of their numerous poignant individuals to hail from the Great White North. Regardless of whether one disagrees with their position on our list, all five players deserve recognition and respect for their numerous contributions to the Flames’ successes.