Sports Take

The Calgary Flames haven’t had the same success recently as in the 1980’s with the likes of Lanny MacDonald, Mike Vernon, and Joe Nieuwendyk. It looked as though the team wouldn’t reach the Stanley Cup finals again after the win in 1989, that was until the future all time leader in games played, goals, and points (and now a member of the Hall of Fame) was traded from the Dallas Stars to Calgary in the form of Jarome Igina, and in 2003-04 a trade with the San Jose Sharks brought the Flames their franchise goaltender, Miikka Kiprusoff. The ’04 finals run lit the city and reenergized a fan base that was losing interest in it’s team. Since then the Flames have burnt out after the retirement of the all time wins leader (305), and the carousel of starting goalies in the organization has been non stop. Since Kiprusoff’s retirement the Flames have failed to get their next goalie, included among them are names like Jonas Hiller and Niklas Backstrom, (granted it was only for a year). For the Flames to win their next Stanley Cup they need a goaltender, and that’s been the problem with the Flames, they haven’t found one. The future of the position seems to rest in Tyler Parsons, Jon Gilles, Dustin Wolf, and Artyom Zagidulin, all four of whom could be the Flames next all-star goalie. They have the time with the core group all signed to long term contracts including Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and Matthew Tkachuck, but the Flames are in a win now mentality and will need current goalies Cam Talbot and David Rittich to be at their best if their going to win the Cup any time soon.