1991–92 Calgary Flames season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1991–92
Year:	1991
Team:	Calgary Flames
Conferencerank:	8th
Divisionrank:	5th
Record:	31–37–12
Homerecord:	19–14–7
Roadrecord:	12–23–5
Goalsfor:	296 (5th)
Goalsagainst:	305 (19th)
Coach:	Doug Risebrough Guy Charron (interim)
Attendance:	19,719
Goalsleader:	Gary Roberts (53)
Assistsleader:	Al MacInnis (57)
Pointsleader:	Gary Roberts (90)
Pimleader:	Ronnie Stern (338)
Plusminusleader:	Gary Roberts (+32)
Winsleader:	Mike Vernon (24)
Gaaleader:	Mike Vernon (3.58)

The 1991–92 Calgary Flames season was the 12th National Hockey League season in Calgary, 20th season overall for the franchise which was founded in 1972. This season represented the start of a new era for the Flames, as Cliff Fletcher, the only general manager the franchise had ever known, left the team to take up the same position with the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[1] Doug Risebrough, Fletcher's former assistant, took over the reins for the Flames.

Fletcher quickly took advantage of his former team, orchestrating one of the largest trades in NHL history, a ten-player mega deal that saw disgruntled forward Doug Gilmour go to the Leafs, along with Ric Nattress, Jamie Macoun, Rick Wamsley and Kent Manderville for former 50–goal scorer Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese, Alexander Godynyuk and Craig Berube.^[2] The deal is often regarded as one of the most lopsided in NHL history,^[3] and helped transform both clubs, as the formerly inept Leafs quickly rose to contention, making two trips to the conference finals in 1993 and 1994. The deal marked the beginning of the Flames' decline, which saw them ultimately bottom out by missing the playoffs for seven straight seasons between 1996 and 2003.^[4]

Prior to the season, the Flames lost defenceman Rick Lessard to the San Jose Sharks in the 1991 NHL Dispersal and Expansion Drafts.

The Flames finished fifth in the Smythe Division, seven points behind the fourth-place Winnipeg Jets and out of the playoffs. It was the first time the Flames had missed the playoffs since 1975, when they were known as the Atlanta Flames and their first losing season since 1982–83^[5] This would be the only season that the Flames would miss the playoffs between 1976 and 1996.

Individually, three Flames represented the Campbell Conference at the 1992 All-Star Game: Forwards Gary Roberts and Theoren Fleury, and defenceman Al MacInnis.^[6] Roberts' 53 goals tied him for third in the NHL, behind Brett Hull (70) and Kevin Stevens (54).^[7]

Fleury and MacInnis also represented Canada at the 1991 Canada Cup, winning the tournament.^[8] MacInnis was named a tournament all-star. Joel Otto and Gary Suter suited up for the Americans.^[9]

Regular season

On November 4, 1991, the Flames were shut-out 4–0 by the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Flames had not been shut out in a regular-season game since Sunday, February 26, 1989, when they lost 1–0 on the road to the Winnipeg Jets. Prior to their loss in New York, the Flames had gone 188 consecutive regular season games without being shut-out.^[10] ^[11] ^[12] ^[13]

The Flames' penalty-killing struggled during the regular season, as they most power-play goals (107) in the NHL. They were also the most penalized team in the league, being short-handed 489 times.^[14]

Following an 11–0 blowout loss to the Vancouver Canucks on March 1, GM Doug Risebrough resigned as head coach and elevated assistant Guy Charron to the role on an interim basis. Unfortunately by that point of the season, it was too late to make the playoffs and the Flames went 6–7–3 following the change.

Season standings

Schedule and results

1991–92 Game Log

October: 6–5–1 (Home: 3–1–0; Road: 3–4–1)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
1	October 4		2 – 9	Calgary		1–0–0	2
2	October 6	Calgary	3 – 5			1–1–0	2
3	October 8	Calgary	3 – 4			1–2–0	2
4	October 10	Calgary	7 – 1			2–2–0	4
5	October 12	Calgary	1 – 3	Edmonton		2–3–0	4
6	October 15		3 – 6	Calgary		3–3–0	6
7	October 17		4 – 6	Calgary		4–3–0	8
8	October 19	Calgary	2 – 5			4–4–0	8
9	October 22	Calgary	4 – 2	Minnesota		5–4–0	10
10	October 24	Calgary	5 – 2			6–4–0	12
11	October 26	Calgary	2 – 2		OT	6–4–1	13
12	October 30		5 – 2	Calgary		6–5–1	13

November: 5–5–3 (Home: 2–3–2; Road: 3–2–1)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
13	November 1	Calgary	7 – 6	Winnipeg	OT	7–5–1	15
14	November 4	Calgary	0 – 4			7–6–1	15
15	November 6	Calgary	3 – 2			8–6–1	17
16	November 7	Calgary	4 – 4		OT	8–6–2	18
17	November 9	Calgary	6 – 1	Toronto		9–6–2	20
18	November 12		5 – 4	Calgary	OT	9–7–2	20
19	November 14	Vancouver	2 – 2	Calgary	OT	9–7–3	21
20	November 16		5 – 4	Calgary		9–8–3	21
21	November 21	Vancouver	2 – 3	Calgary		10–8–3	23
22	November 22	Calgary	5 – 6	Vancouver	OT	10–9–3	23
23	November 25	Winnipeg	3 – 3	Calgary	OT	10–9–4	24
24	November 28	Los Angeles	3 – 5	Calgary		11–9–4	26
25	November 30	San Jose	2 – 1	Calgary		11–10–4	26

December: 5–7–1 (Home: 4–1–1; Road: 1–6–0)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
26	December 3	Calgary	2 – 5	Detroit		11–11–4	26
27	December 5	Calgary	3 – 6	New Jersey		11–12–4	26
28	December 7	Calgary	1 – 5			11–13–4	26
29	December 8	Calgary	4 – 2	Buffalo		12–13–4	28
30	December 10	Calgary	1 – 4			12–14–4	28
31	December 14	Detroit	4 – 3	Calgary	OT	12–15–4	28
32	December 17	Winnipeg	4 – 7	Calgary		13–15–4	30
33	December 19		5 – 5	Calgary	OT	13–15–5	31
34	December 21	Calgary	2 – 7	Winnipeg		13–16–5	31
35	December 23	Calgary	3 – 5	Edmonton		13–17–5	31
36	December 28		1 – 5	Calgary		14–17–5	33
37	December 29	Los Angeles	2 – 6	Calgary		15–17–5	35
38	December 31	Montreal	2 – 3	Calgary	OT	16–17–5	37

January: 5–5–2 (Home: 2–2–1; Road: 3–3–1)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
39	January 4	Edmonton	3 – 2	Calgary		16–18–5	37
40	January 5	Calgary	3 – 2	Edmonton		17–18–5	39
41	January 8	San Jose	3 – 10	Calgary		18–18–5	41
42	January 10		5 – 7	Calgary		19–18–5	43
43	January 13	Calgary	2 – 2	Montreal	OT	19–18–6	44
44	January 14	Calgary	5 – 3	Quebec		20–18–6	46
45	January 16	Calgary	4 – 6	NY Rangers		20–19–6	46
46	January 22	NY Rangers	4 – 4	Calgary	OT	20–19–7	47
47	January 24	Calgary	3 – 2	San Jose		21–19–7	49
48	January 25	Calgary	3 – 4	Los Angeles		21–20–7	49
49	January 27	Chicago	3 – 4	Calgary	OT	21–21–7	49
50	January 30	Calgary	1 – 3	Boston		21–22–7	49

February: 4–7–2 (Home: 3–3–1; Road: 1–4–1)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
51	February 1	Calgary	2 – 5	Washington		21–23–7	49
52	February 2	Calgary	3 – 6			21–24–7	49
53	February 5	Quebec	3 – 5	Calgary		22–24–7	51
54	February 7	Calgary	1 – 4	Winnipeg		22–25–7	51
55	February 11	NY Islanders	3 – 1	Calgary		22–26–7	51
56	February 13	Washington	4 – 4	Calgary	OT	22–26–8	52
57	February 15	Calgary	2 – 7	St. Louis		22–27–8	52
58	February 16	Calgary	5 – 5	Chicago	OT	22–27–9	53
59	February 19	Boston	4 – 6	Calgary		23–27–9	55
60	February 21	Los Angeles	7 – 9	Calgary		24–27–9	57
61	February 23	Calgary	4 – 2	San Jose		25–27–9	59
62	February 25	Buffalo	5 – 3	Calgary		25–28–9	59
63	February 27	Philadelphia	3 – 0	Calgary		25–29–9	59

March: 5–7–2 (Home: 5–3–2; Road: 0–4–0)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
64	March 1	Calgary	0 – 11	Vancouver		25–30–9	59
65	March 3	Pittsburgh	6 – 3	Calgary		25–31–9	59
66	March 5	Toronto	5 – 5	Calgary	OT	25–31–10	60
67	March 7	St. Louis	1 – 5	Calgary		26–31–10	62
68	March 10	Calgary	2 – 5	Pittsburgh		26–32–10	62
69	March 12	Calgary	4 – 5	Philadelphia	OT	26–33–10	62
70	March 14	Vancouver	6 – 4	Calgary		26–34–10	62
71	March 16	Hartford	4 – 3	Calgary		26–35–10	62
72	March 19	San Jose	1 – 3	Calgary		27–35–10	64
73	March 21	Calgary	2 – 5	Los Angeles		27–36–10	64
74	March 24	Edmonton	4 – 4	Calgary	OT	27–36–11	65
75	March 26	Los Angeles	2 – 7	Calgary		28–36–11	67
76	March 28	Minnesota	3 – 4	Calgary		29–36–11	69
77	March 31	Edmonton	2 – 5	Calgary		30–36–11	71

April: 1–1–1 (Home: 0–1–0; Road: 1–0–1)
	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Record	Pts
78	April 12	Winnipeg	4 – 3	Calgary		30–37–11	71
79	April 15	Calgary	4 – 3	San Jose		31–37–11	73
80	April 16	Calgary	4 – 4	Vancouver	OT	31–37–12	74

Playoffs

The Flames finished 5th in the Smythe Division, seven points back of the 4th place Winnipeg Jets. As a result, the Flames missed the playoffs for the first time since their move to Calgary. The last time the franchise had missed the post season was in 1974–75 when the team was still known as the Atlanta Flames

Player statistics

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

		Regular season					Playoffs
Player		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	10	76	53	37	90	207	-	-	-	-	-
	2	72	20	57	77	83	-	-	-	-	-
	14	80	33	40	73	133	-	-	-	-	-
	42	68	22	48	70	60	-	-	-	-	-
	25	69	22	34	56	55	-	-	-	-	-
	20	70	12	43	55	128	-	-	-	-	-
	26	70	20	34	54	32	-	-	-	-	-
	28	80	23	20	43	32	-	-	-	-	-
Doug Gilmour^‡	39	38	11	27	38	46	-	-	-	-	-
	29	78	13	21	34	161	-	-	-	-	-
	33	42	11	12	23	37	-	-	-	-	-
	22	72	13	9	22	338	-	-	-	-	-
	17	46	7	11	18	42	-	-	-	-	-
	27	38	5	9	14	12	-	-	-	-	-
Jamie Macoun^‡	34	37	2	12	14	53	-	-	-	-	-
Michel Petit^†	7	36	3	10	13	79	-	-	-	-	-
	18	47	4	9	13	45	-	-	-	-	-
	3	78	4	8	12	103	-	-	-	-	-
Gary Leeman^†	11	29	2	7	9	27	-	-	-	-	-
	55	50	2	7	9	24	-	-	-	-	-
	32	17	2	5	7	17	-	-	-	-	-
	30	63	0	7	7	8	-	-	-	-	-
Craig Berube^†	23/16	36	1	4	5	155	-	-	-	-	-
Ric Nattress^‡	6	19	0	5	5	31	-	-	-	-	-
	12	16	3	1	4	65	-	-	-	-	-
	13	21	1	3	4	119	-	-	-	-	-
	19	30	1	3	4	167	-	-	-	-	-
	7	11	1	2	3	4	-	-	-	-	-
	15	35	1	2	3	119	-	-	-	-	-
Nevin Markwart^†	23	10	2	1	3	25	-	-	-	-	-
Greg Smyth^†	6	7	1	1	2	15	-	-	-	-	-
	23	4	1	0	1	19	-	-	-	-	-
	21	5	0	1	1	42	-	-	-	-	-
Alexander Godynyuk^†	21	6	0	1	1	4	-	-	-	-	-
Jeff Reese^†	35	12	0	1	1	12	-	-	-	-	-
	4	21	0	1	1	107	-	-	-	-	-
	32	1	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
	1	1	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
	37	2	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
	5	3	0	0	0	2	-	-	-	-	-
	37	5	0	0	0	7	-	-	-	-	-
Rick Wamsley^‡	31	9	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
	16	11	0	0	0	6	-	-	-	-	-

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Calgary. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

		Regular season								Playoffs
Player		GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	GAA	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	GAA
	30	63	3640	24	30	9	217	2	3.58	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	1	1	65	0	0	1	4	0	3.69	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Jeff Reese^†	35	12	587	3	2	2	37	1	3.78	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	37	2	120	1	1	0	8	0	4.00	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rick Wamsley^‡	31	9	457	3	4	0	34	0	4.46	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Calgary. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.
^‡Traded mid-season

Transactions

The Flames were involved in the following transactions during the 1991–92 season.

Trades

August 26, 1991	To Calgary Flames 6th round pick in 1991	To Hartford Whalers Paul Fenton
January 2, 1992	To Calgary Flames Gary Leeman Alexander Godynyuk Jeff Reese Michel Petit Craig Berube	To Toronto Maple Leafs Doug Gilmour Jamie Macoun Ric Nattress Rick Wamsley Kent Manderville

Free agents

Draft picks

See main article: List of Calgary Flames draft picks.

Calgary's picks at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, held in Buffalo, New York.^[15]

Rnd	Pick	Player	Nationality	Position	Team (league)	NHL statistics
Rnd	Pick	Player	Nationality	Position	Team (league)	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1	19	Niklas Sundblad		RW	AIK (SEL)	2	0	0	0	0
2	41	Francois Groleau		D	Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL)	8	0	1	1	6
3	52	Sandy McCarthy		RW	Laval Titan (QMJHL)	736	72	76	148	1534
3	63	Brian Caruso		LW	UMD (WCHA)
4	85	Steve Magnusson		C	Minnesota (WCHA)
5	107	Jerome Butler		G	UMD (WCHA)
6	129	Bob Marshall		D	Miami University (CCHA)
7	140	Matt Hoffman		C	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
7	151	Kelly Harper		RW	Michigan State (CCHA)
8	173	David St. Pierre		C	Longueuil (QMJHL)
9	195	David Struch		C	Saskatoon Blades (WHL)	4	0	0	0	4
10	217	Sergei Zolotov		LW	Krylya Sovetov (USSR)
11	239	Marko Jantunen		RW	Reipas Lahti (FNL)	3	0	0	0	0
12	261	Andrei Trefilov		G	HC Dynamo Moscow (USSR)	54	12–25–4, 3.45GAA
S	25	Dean Larson		C	N/A

References

Player stats: 2006–07 Calgary Flames Media Guide, pg 120
Game log: 2006–07 Calgary Flames Media Guide, pg 138
Team standings: 1991–92 NHL standings @hockeydb.com
Trades:

Notes and References

Shea, Kevin, One on One with Cliff Fletcher, legendsofhockey.net, accessed May 14, 2007
Dolezar, Jon A., Say it aint so: Calgary Flames, cnnsi.com, August 8, 2001, Accessed May 14, 2007
Patrick, Anthony, Fear and Loathing in Calgary, Calgarypuck, June 8, 2001, accessed May 14, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2003/03/13/leafs_flames030313.html Gilmour begins again with Leafs in Calgary
Year-by-year results, 2006–07 Calgary Flames Media Guide, pg. 106
All-star selections, 2006–07 Calgary Flames Media Guide, pg. 22
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/leaders/nhl19271992.html 1991–92 scoring leaders
http://www.hhof.com/HTML/TeamRosterCCUP1991CAN.shtml 1991 Canada Cup - Team Canada roster
http://www.hhof.com/HTML/TeamRosterCCUP1991USA.shtml 1991 Canada Cup - Team USA roster
Web site: 1988-89 Calgary Flames Schedule and Results.
Web site: 1989-90 Calgary Flames Schedule and Results.
Web site: 1990-91 Calgary Flames Schedule and Results.
Web site: 1991-92 Calgary Flames Schedule and Results.
Web site: 1991-92 NHL Summary.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr000043.html Calgary Flames draft history