1995–96 Calgary Flames season
NHL team season
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The 1995–96 Calgary Flames season was the 16th National Hockey League season in Calgary. The Flames entered the season with their fifth coach in five seasons, hiring Pierre Page to replace Dave King.[1] Page, who had previously been an assistant coach with the Flames in the 1980s, left his head coaching position with the Quebec Nordiques to move west.
| 1995–96 Calgary Flames | |
|---|---|
| Division | 2nd Pacific |
| Conference | 6th Western |
| 1995–96 record | 34–37–11 |
| Home record | 18–18–5 |
| Road record | 16–19–6 |
| Goals for | 241 |
| Goals against | 240 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Doug Risebrough (Oct.–Nov.) Al Coates (Nov.–Apr.) |
| Coach | Pierre Page |
| Captain | Theoren Fleury |
| Arena | Canadian Airlines Saddledome |
| Average attendance | 18,000 |
| Minor league affiliate | Saint John Flames |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Theoren Fleury (46) |
| Assists | Theoren Fleury (50) |
| Points | Theoren Fleury (96) |
| Penalty minutes | Sandy McCarthy (173) |
| Plus/minus | Theoren Fleury (+17) |
| Wins | Rick Tabaracci (19) |
| Goals against average | Trevor Kidd (2.78) |
The Flames began the season with a disastrous start, posting a 4–15–5 record through the end of November. The team's poor start was exacerbated by the holdout of Joe Nieuwendyk, who was unable to reach a contract agreement with the Flames.[2] Also, the Flames began the season on a long, seven game road trip while renovations to the Olympic Saddledome were completed.[3] The Flames reached a low point on October 27, 1995, when they set a franchise record for futility, recording just eight shots in a 3–0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on home ice.[4]
The Nieuwendyk saga finally came to a close when the Flames dealt him to the Dallas Stars for Corey Millen, and Western Hockey League star Jarome Iginla on December 19. Nieuwendyk immediately ended his holdout, signing a five-year, $11 million contract with Dallas.[2]
The Flames began to turn the season around, led by Gary Roberts' comeback from neck injuries that had kept him out most of the 1994–95 season. Roberts' comeback lasted only 35 games before he was again sidelined with bone spurs and nerve damage in his neck. Roberts would score an incredible 22 goals and 42 points during that time, earning him the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance and dedication to hockey.[5]
The Flames recovered from their woeful start to finish second in the Pacific Division, and as the sixth seed in the Western Conference. The Flames were swept, however, by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs, as the team once again failed to win a playoff series since they won the Stanley Cup in 1989. One notable player made his debut during the playoffs: Jarome Iginla, who would become a star for the Flames for years to come. The Flames would not qualify for the playoffs again until 2004, missing the post season for the next seven years.[6]
Theoren Fleury represented the Flames at the 46th National Hockey League All-Star Game. It was the first since 1986 that the Flames had only one representative.[7]
Regular season
Season standings
| No. | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 47 | 25 | 10 | 326 | 240 | 104 |
| 2 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 241 | 240 | 79 |
| 3 | Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 32 | 35 | 15 | 278 | 278 | 79 |
| 4 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 234 | 247 | 78 |
| 5 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 240 | 304 | 68 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 24 | 40 | 18 | 256 | 302 | 66 |
| 7 | San Jose Sharks | 82 | 20 | 55 | 7 | 252 | 357 | 47 |
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
| R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | p – Detroit Red Wings | CEN | 82 | 62 | 13 | 7 | 325 | 181 | 131 |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | PAC | 82 | 47 | 25 | 10 | 326 | 240 | 104 |
| 3 | Chicago Blackhawks | CEN | 82 | 40 | 28 | 14 | 273 | 220 | 94 |
| 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | CEN | 82 | 34 | 36 | 12 | 247 | 252 | 80 |
| 5 | St. Louis Blues | CEN | 82 | 32 | 34 | 16 | 219 | 248 | 80 |
| 6 | Calgary Flames | PAC | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 241 | 240 | 79 |
| 7 | Vancouver Canucks | PAC | 82 | 32 | 35 | 15 | 278 | 278 | 79 |
| 8 | Winnipeg Jets | CEN | 82 | 36 | 40 | 6 | 275 | 291 | 78 |
| 9 | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | PAC | 82 | 35 | 39 | 8 | 234 | 247 | 78 |
| 10 | Edmonton Oilers | PAC | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 240 | 304 | 68 |
| 11 | Dallas Stars | CEN | 82 | 26 | 42 | 14 | 227 | 280 | 66 |
| 12 | Los Angeles Kings | PAC | 82 | 24 | 40 | 18 | 256 | 302 | 66 |
| 13 | San Jose Sharks | PAC | 82 | 20 | 55 | 7 | 252 | 357 | 47 |
Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific
bold – Qualified for playoffs; p – Won Presidents' Trophy
Playoffs
Despite finishing 2nd in the Pacific Division, the Flames were only the 6th seed in the playoffs. They met the 2nd-place finisher in the Central Division, the Chicago Blackhawks. It was the third time Calgary and Chicago had met in the playoffs, as the Flames had previously defeated the Blackhawks in 1981, and 1989. This time around, Chicago had the better of the Flames, sweeping Calgary out in four straight, and continuing the Flames playoff futility.
Looking for a spark, the Flames signed junior star Jarome Iginla to a contract before the third game, allowing him to make his NHL debut at home. Iginla scored a goal and an assist in his first two games.
This series was the Flames last playoff appearance for eight years, as Calgary did not return to the post season until 2004.
Schedule and results
Regular season
| 1995–96 regular season[9] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 1–7–3 (home: 0–2–0; road: 1–5–3)
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November: 3–8–2 (home: 1–4–2; road: 2–4–0)
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December: 7–6–2 (home: 3–3–1; road: 4–3–1)
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January: 7–2–2 (home: 6–2–0; road: 1–0–2)
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February: 6–5–2 (home: 5–2–2; road: 1–3–0)
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March: 7–6–0 (home: 2–4–0; road: 5–2–0)
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April: 3–3–0 (home: 1–1–0; road: 2–2–0)
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Legend: W Win (2 points) L Loss (0 points) T Tie (1 point) |
Playoffs
| 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs[9] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Western Conference Quarterfinals vs. Chicago Blackhawks (3) – Chicago wins 4–0
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Legend: W Win L Loss |
Player statistics
Scoring
- Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | |||
| 14 | Theoren Fleury | RW | 80 | 46 | 50 | 96 | 17 | 112 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
| 13 | German Titov | LW | 82 | 28 | 39 | 67 | 9 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 92 | Michael Nylander | C | 73 | 17 | 38 | 55 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 0 |
| 6 | Phil Housley‡ | D | 59 | 16 | 36 | 52 | −2 | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 10 | Gary Roberts | LW | 35 | 22 | 20 | 42 | 15 | 78 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | Cory Stillman | LW | 74 | 16 | 19 | 35 | −5 | 41 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 0 |
| 3 | James Patrick | D | 80 | 3 | 32 | 35 | 3 | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 |
| 21 | Steve Chiasson | D | 76 | 8 | 25 | 33 | 3 | 62 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Zarley Zalapski | D | 80 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 11 | 115 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 32 | Mike Sullivan | LW | 81 | 9 | 12 | 21 | −6 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| 15 | Sandy McCarthy | RW | 75 | 9 | 7 | 16 | −8 | 173 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 10 |
| 18[a] | Pavel Torgayev | LW | 41 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Ronnie Stern | RW | 52 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 111 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 12 | Paul Kruse | LW | 75 | 3 | 12 | 15 | −5 | 145 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| 20 | Dean Evason | C | 67 | 7 | 7 | 14 | −6 | 38 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| 34 | Corey Millen† | C | 31 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 8 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 7 | Jamie Huscroft | D | 70 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 162 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 4 |
| 23 | Sheldon Kennedy | RW | 41 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 36 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| 47 | Claude Lapointe† | C | 32 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| 45 | Jocelyn Lemieux† | RW | 20 | 4 | 4 | 8 | −1 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Ed Ward | RW | 41 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −2 | 44 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 28[b] | Marty Murray | C | 15 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −4 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 36 | Yves Sarault† | LW | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 8 | Trent Yawney | D | 69 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 88 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 2 |
| 4 | Kevin Dahl | D | 32 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Bob Sweeney† | C | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| 37 | Trevor Kidd | G | 47 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 31 | Rick Tabaracci | G | 43 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 46 | Ladislav Kohn | RW | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | Tommy Albelin† | D | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| 5[c] | Joel Bouchard | D | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Pat Conacher†‡ | C | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 38 | Craig Ferguson†‡ | C | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 17 | Todd Hlushko | C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 29 | Cale Hulse† | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| 39 | Dan Keczmer‡ | D | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −6 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 27[d] | Todd Simpson | D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 38 | Jarrod Skalde† | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 35 | Niklas Sundblad | RW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 19 | Vesa Viitakoski‡ | LW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 24 | Jarome Iginla† | C | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Goaltending
| No. | Player | Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | GP | W | L | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | ||
| 31 | Rick Tabaracci | 43 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 1087 | 117 | 2.94 | .892 | 3 | 2391 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 84 | 7 | 2.06 | .917 | 0 | 204 |
| 37 | Trevor Kidd | 47 | 15 | 21 | 9 | 1130 | 119 | 2.78 | .895 | 3 | 2570 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 9 | 6.48 | .775 | 0 | 83 |
Awards and records
Awards
| Type | Award/honour | Recipient | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| League (annual) |
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy | Gary Roberts | [10] |
| League (in-season) |
NHL All-Star Game selection | Theoren Fleury | [11] |
| Team | Molson Cup | Theoren Fleury | [12] |
| Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian Award | Gary Roberts | [13] |
Milestones
| Milestone | Player | Date | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| First game | Marty Murray | October 7, 1995 | [14] |
| Todd Simpson | |||
| Ladislav Kohn | October 25, 1995 | ||
| Pavel Torgayev | |||
| Niklas Sundblad | November 26, 1995 | ||
| Jarome Iginla | April 21, 1996 | [15] |
Transactions
The Flames were involved in the following transactions during the 1995–96 season.
Trades
| November 1, 1995 | To Calgary Flames Claude Lapointe |
To Colorado Avalanche 7th-round pick in 1997 |
| November 26, 1995 | To Calgary Flames Yves Sarault Craig Ferguson |
To Montreal Canadiens 8th-round pick in 1997 |
| December 19, 1995 | To Calgary Flames Jarome Iginla Corey Millen |
To Dallas Stars Joe Nieuwendyk |
| February 26, 1996 | To Calgary Flames Tommy Albelin Cale Hulse Jocelyn Lemieux |
To New Jersey Devils Phil Housley Dan Keczmer |
| March 20, 1996 | To Calgary Flames Bob Sweeney |
To New York Islanders Pat Conacher 6th-round pick in 1997 |
Free agents
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Draft picks
Calgary's picks at the 1995 NHL entry draft, held in Edmonton, Alberta.[16]
| Rnd | Pick | Player | Nationality | Position | Team (league) | NHL statistics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||||||
| 1 | 20 | Denis Gauthier |  Canada | D | Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) | 554 | 17 | 60 | 77 | 748 |
| 2 | 46 | Pavel Smirnov |  Russia | F | Samara CSK VVS (RSL) | |||||
| 3 | 72 | Rocky Thompson | Canada | RW | Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 117 |
| 4 | 98 | Jan Labraaten |  Sweden | RW | Färjestads BK (SEL) | |||||
| 6 | 150 | Clarke Wilm | Canada | C | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) | 455 | 37 | 60 | 97 | 336 |
| 7 | 176 | Ryan Gillis | Canada | D | North Bay Centennials (OHL) | |||||
| 9 | 233 | Steve Shirreffs |  United States | D | N/A | |||||
Farm teams
Saint John Flames
The Baby Flames finished the 1995–96 American Hockey League season in second place in the Canadian Division with a 35–30–11–4 record. The tied the Prince Edward Island Senators in points, but lost out on the division title by virtue of having three fewer wins. The Flames defeated the St. John's Maple Leafs three games to one, then knocked off the Fredericton Canadiens four games to one before falling to the Portland Pirates in seven games.[17] Ladislav Kohn led the Flames with 28 goals and 73 points. Dwayne Roloson was the starting goaltender, posting a 33–22–11 record with a 2.83 GAA in 67 games.[18]