Iginla, Gaudreau highlight Flame’s NHL quarter century team
The best players from the Calgary Flames over the past 25 years have been revealed.
The league has begun rolling out its multi-phased celebration, honoring the best players for each of the 32 franchises, including one of the two teams from Alberta, the Flames.
Here is the Quarter-Century Team for the @NHLFlames! 🔴🟡 #NHLQCTeam
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Both teams have a strong mix of players’ from the Flames success in the early portion of the 21st century, as well as players from their recent playoff showings. However, only two players on the list are currently on the Flames.
The first team is headlined by the only Flames player to score at above a point-per-game pace in the 21st century, Johnny Gaudreau. The late winger played the best hockey of his career with Calgary, and was second on the Flames in regular season points (609 in 602 games) and playoff points (33 in 42).
The only player to finish ahead of Gaudreau in both regards is arguably the Calgary Flame, Jarome Iginla. The franchise all-time leader in scoring played his best hockey in the 21st century, and had 463 goals and 962 points in 985 games, 27 goals and 47 points in 52 playoff games, an Art Ross and two “Rocket” Richard trophies.
Finishing off the first-team forwards is Matthew Tkachuk, who was third in points-per-game in the 21st century for the Flames with 152 goals and 382 points in 431 games played.
Mark Giordano and Robyn Regehr both spent a majority of their careers as Flames, as they rank 1st and 2nd on the team in games played by a Flames defenseman in the 21st century. Giordano has 509 points in 949 games, along with a Norris Trophy, while Regehr had 163 points in 826 games.
Miikka Kiprusoff is the obvious choice for the first team’s goaltender, as he holds a majority of the franchise’s goaltending records and saw the entirety of his Flames’ career come in the 21st century. In 576 games, Kiprusoff had 305 wins, a .913 save percentage and 41 shutouts and a Vezina Trophy, along with 24 wins, a .920 SV% and 6 shutouts in 52 playoff games.
The second team features the only two players currently on the Flames in Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson. They lead all active Flames in games played by a significant margin, with Backlund playing the most games of any Flame in the 21st century with 1,030, with 208 goals and 549 points in that span. Andersson is 10th in that regard with 495, with 218 points in those games.
Craig Conroy is also technically on this current Flames team, but as the general manager. He makes the second team for his playing days though, where he had 97 goals and 308 points in 507 games in the 21st century. Sean Monahan rounds out the second-team forwards with the 5th-most points in the 2000s, with 212 goals and 462 points in 656 games.
Dion Phaneuf was the final defenseman named, and while he only played five seasons and 378 games as a Flame, he was one of their most productive blueliners with 228 points. Jacob Markstrom is the second-team goaltender, which should come as no surprise considering that he’s the only goaltender aside from Kiprusoff to play over 200 games (213) and win over 100 games (105).