2004 Finals-Flames/Bolts

[Admiral Awesome]

1) Did anyone on the Flames have a noticeably bad Final? (Iginla, Craig Conroy and Martin Gelinas come to mind as known-name guys on the team, Rhett Warrener and maybe a young Derek Morris at this point too? I don't know if Phaneuf is in Calgary at this time).

Morris was long gone at that point. Just sayin'.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

Morris was long gone at that point. Just sayin'.

A hockey homey earlier on said Morris was already traded for Drury at this point....I can't believe I don't remember a guy like Drury being on the Flames 04 team though? I don't know if he was banged-up/injured or re-dealt? I gotta go back and re-read....

 

[Admiral Awesome]

A hockey homey earlier on said Morris was already traded for Drury at this point....I can't believe I don't remember a guy like Drury being on the Flames 04 team though? I don't know if he was banged-up/injured or re-dealt? I gotta go back and re-read....

If I'm not mistaken, he'd been traded to Buffalo at that point.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

3. The final score in game 7 2-1 Bolts or 2-0?

4. Bryan Sutter coaching the Flames at this point?

A hockey homey earlier on said Morris was already traded for Drury at this point....I can't believe I don't remember a guy like Drury being on the Flames 04 team though? I don't know if he was banged-up/injured or re-dealt? I gotta go back and re-read....

jmac, this site has all of the basic info you're looking for-- NHL Stats, History, Scores, & Records | Hockey-Reference.com

drury, who didn't want to be traded from the avs, openly sulked and played like a piece of garbage and got himself traded again, to buffalo for rhett warriner and steve reinprecht. reinprecht was injured for the entire playoff run.

the addition of warrener that season and andrew ference late the year before gave calgary a very deep, if unspectacular, 1-through-6, supplementing calgary's "defense of the future" (yes, wishful thinking) from a few years earlier: regehr, morris (made redundant and replaced by leopold), toni lydman, and denis gauthier. with lydman and gauthier both injured, the flames really leaned on warrener and ference in their top four. the bottom pair became rhyming no-names mike commodore and steve montador.

 

[Big Phil]

1) Did anyone on the Flames have a noticeably bad Final? (Iginla, Craig Conroy and Martin Gelinas come to mind as known-name guys on the team, Rhett Warrener and maybe a young Derek Morris at this point too? I don't know if Phaneuf is in Calgary at this time).

I don't know if anyone had a bad final necessarily. Lecavalier had a surprising 3 points in those 7 games, no goals. He had that fight against Iginla that is memorable, so he was certainly involved. He had a weird postseason. Very streaky. No points in Round #1 vs. the Isles. Dominated against Montreal in Round 2. Played well in Round 3 vs. Philly. Then not very productive in the final. He only had 16 points all playoffs, it wasn't as if he lit the world on fire.

It was St. Louis and Richards that really did the damage, especially Richards. Still holds the record for 7 game winners in the playoffs. Had 26 points and did very well in the final. 3 points in that pivotal Game 6 and St. Louis got the overtime winner.

2. Did anyone on the Bolts have a GREAT final? (Khabibulin?....obviously I think Ruslan Fedotenko had two goals in game 7, Lecavalier or St. Louis tear it up? Did Andreychuk do well in his role/for his age?)

See above, this was all about Brad Richards that spring. I'd have told you for sure he is a future HHOFer at that point.

3. The final score in game 7 2-1 Bolts or 2-0?

2-1, with a lovely clutch save from Khabibulin at the end of the game. Jordan Leopold had a yawning cage in front of him.

4. Bryan Sutter coaching the Flames at this point?

Darryl. He left after the 2006 season. Then joined the Kings in 2011. Does anyone remember why Sutter had such a big gap between coaching in the NHL? I can't.

5. Other thoughts/opinions.

Yes, it was a great Cup final. If you remember, this was a time when hockey really needed a signature postseason to hang its hat on. We had been without a good one for a while. 2001 is one you can point to that had some good drama and storylines and two great teams facing off in the final but in all honesty the playoffs were going through a bit of a lull. 1994 was a legendary postseason and then the partial season lockout happened. 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 were all drags. Hockey that wasn't always exciting, talented teams losing when a no-talent grinding team would beat them, then the 4 sweeps in a row in the Cup final. 1999, let's not go there. 2000 was the wrong two teams in the final. 2002 was okay but not great and 2003 again didn't have a great final, despite 7 games.

So 2004 was a refreshing change. You expect exciting hockey with Tampa in there, but you didn't with Calgary. The truth is, the Flames were not a very talented team, but played like they were. They worked hard, they were fast and their games were not boring. That Canucks/Flames series is right up there with the other one in 1994. Even the Sharks/Flames series wasn't boring. Iginla was really leading the charge.

I honestly thought we would be hearing a lot from Tampa in the future. They were young, they had talent..............and then Brad Richards among others took WAY too much money and because of the cap they had to get rid of Khabibulin and in 2006 they just got fed to Ottawa in the first round. They weren't the same team.

Lastly, the controversy in Game 6 about the "goal" is not a controversy in my opinion. I don't think it was a goal. Replays have shown it isn't one. The overheard replay, which is the most reliable, did not show it went in. Very, very close, but no goal. Even if it were a goal, people act like it was a lock Calgary wins. This wasn't overtime, it was still the 3rd period.

 

[Big Phil]

Also, Shean Donovan. He did well that playoff. I remember him looking like he was Iginla on one goal. He had a breakaway from what looked like his own blue line against San Jose and scored on a breakaway. Was Donovan that fast I thought? I guess so. Why he had twice as many points in the 2004 season as any other year is beyond me but he peaked at the right time.

 

[kruezer]

Phil to answer your question, Darryl didn’t coach from 06 to 11 because he was GM in Calgary. He was turned into the leagues last Coach-GM in 2003 but gave up the coaching job in 06.

 

[kruezer]

Also, the reason Shean Donovan had so many points this year was because Dean Mcammond, who played LW with Conroy and Iginla got hurt in game 60 that season and missed the remainder of the season and POs. The flames on the whole were really banged up.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

jmac, this site has all of the basic info you're looking for-- NHL Stats, History, Scores, & Records | Hockey-Reference.com

drury, who didn't want to be traded from the avs, openly sulked and played like a piece of garbage and got himself traded again, to buffalo for rhett warriner and steve reinprecht. reinprecht was injured for the entire playoff run.

the addition of warrener that season and andrew ference late the year before gave calgary a very deep, if unspectacular, 1-through-6, supplementing calgary's "defense of the future" (yes, wishful thinking) from a few years earlier: regehr, morris (made redundant and replaced by leopold), toni lydman, and denis gauthier. with lydman and gauthier both injured, the flames really leaned on warrener and ference in their top four. the bottom pair became rhyming no-names mike commodore and steve montador.

Thank you Vadim. I appreciate the info/scoop. I guess part of me too though likes finding out from the fellow homies/homettes. As much as I get numbers crazy/interested I'm sure I'll be entertained looking on here *thumbs up*

 

[Jim MacDonald]

I don't know if anyone had a bad final necessarily. Lecavalier had a surprising 3 points in those 7 games, no goals. He had that fight against Iginla that is memorable, so he was certainly involved. He had a weird postseason. Very streaky. No points in Round #1 vs. the Isles. Dominated against Montreal in Round 2. Played well in Round 3 vs. Philly. Then not very productive in the final. He only had 16 points all playoffs, it wasn't as if he lit the world on fire.

It was St. Louis and Richards that really did the damage, especially Richards. Still holds the record for 7 game winners in the playoffs. Had 26 points and did very well in the final. 3 points in that pivotal Game 6 and St. Louis got the overtime winner.



See above, this was all about Brad Richards that spring. I'd have told you for sure he is a future HHOFer at that point.


2-1, with a lovely clutch save from Khabibulin at the end of the game. Jordan Leopold had a yawning cage in front of him.


Darryl. He left after the 2006 season. Then joined the Kings in 2011. Does anyone remember why Sutter had such a big gap between coaching in the NHL? I can't.


Yes, it was a great Cup final. If you remember, this was a time when hockey really needed a signature postseason to hang its hat on. We had been without a good one for a while. 2001 is one you can point to that had some good drama and storylines and two great teams facing off in the final but in all honesty the playoffs were going through a bit of a lull. 1994 was a legendary postseason and then the partial season lockout happened. 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 were all drags. Hockey that wasn't always exciting, talented teams losing when a no-talent grinding team would beat them, then the 4 sweeps in a row in the Cup final. 1999, let's not go there. 2000 was the wrong two teams in the final. 2002 was okay but not great and 2003 again didn't have a great final, despite 7 games.

So 2004 was a refreshing change. You expect exciting hockey with Tampa in there, but you didn't with Calgary. The truth is, the Flames were not a very talented team, but played like they were. They worked hard, they were fast and their games were not boring. That Canucks/Flames series is right up there with the other one in 1994. Even the Sharks/Flames series wasn't boring. Iginla was really leading the charge.

I honestly thought we would be hearing a lot from Tampa in the future. They were young, they had talent..............and then Brad Richards among others took WAY too much money and because of the cap they had to get rid of Khabibulin and in 2006 they just got fed to Ottawa in the first round. They weren't the same team.

Lastly, the controversy in Game 6 about the "goal" is not a controversy in my opinion. I don't think it was a goal. Replays have shown it isn't one. The overheard replay, which is the most reliable, did not show it went in. Very, very close, but no goal. Even if it were a goal, people act like it was a lock Calgary wins. This wasn't overtime, it was still the 3rd period.

As always Phil your feedback/thoughts is appreciated and awesome *thumbs up* Brad Richards setting the world on fire is so cool/interesting and somehow I forgot about this. Maybe this series just didn't captivate me as much as I would've liked.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

jmac, this site has all of the basic info you're looking for-- NHL Stats, History, Scores, & Records | Hockey-Reference.com

drury, who didn't want to be traded from the avs, openly sulked and played like a piece of garbage and got himself traded again, to buffalo for rhett warriner and steve reinprecht. reinprecht was injured for the entire playoff run.

I've never forgiven Lacroix for trading Drury.

 

[Big Phil]

Phil to answer your question, Darryl didn’t coach from 06 to 11 because he was GM in Calgary. He was turned into the leagues last Coach-GM in 2003 but gave up the coaching job in 06.

Ah.............how did I not remember that?

 

[Big Phil]

As always Phil your feedback/thoughts is appreciated and awesome *thumbs up* Brad Richards setting the world on fire is so cool/interesting and somehow I forgot about this. Maybe this series just didn't captivate me as much as I would've liked.

You wouldn't think it would have. Calgary vs. Tampa...............it sounded like it would be a rout in favour of Tampa. Not so. Calgary had 2-1 and 3-2 series leads. Not to mention both teams were just so far off of anyone's radar, even at the beginning of the season. Calgary known for 1989 and Theo Fleury and a bunch of failed postseasons and mediocrity since. Tampa had two postseasons to their name at this time. Yet this was a classic. Game 5 and 6 go to overtime and Game 7 was won by the skin of their teeth.