Why did Doug Riseborough dismantle the Flames?

[Blades of Glory]

Remember those Calgary Flames from 1988-89? In my opinion, one of the best all-around Stanley Cup champions of the past quarter century? A pretty young, and very talented group of forwards featuring Doug Gilmour, Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joe Mullen, Hakan Loob, and a rookie Theo Fleury. The defense was the real shining point; especially 25 year old Al MacInnis, 24 year old Gary Suter, and IMO one of the most under-rated defensemen of his era, Brad McCrimmon. Mike Vernon was one of the best young goalies in hockey.

Cliff Fletcher left after the 1990 season, I think, or was it 1991? Either way, Riseborough took over, and promptly traded away the team's best forward, two best defensemen, and starting goaltender within 4 years of taking over. We all know about the Gilmour disaster, but honestly, I think they would have been fine without him had Riseborough not embarked on probably the worst 5 day period in the history of the Flames franchise. Honestly, in a span of 5 days, he dealt away Al MacInnis for Phil Housley and Mike Vernon for Steve Chiasson. This is a year after trading Gary Suter to Hartford for a past-his-prime James Patrick.

I understand that Calgary had doubts about Vernon because he didn't ever reach his 1989 level again. And they had Trevor Kidd, a supposed star, in the pipeline. But does someone remember the reason they dealt Al MacInnis for Phil Housley? Was it just that Riseborough preferred Housley to MacInnis, as ludicrous as it sounds?

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[vadim sharifijanov]

very similar story to the dismantling of the oilers from '88-'92. the dollar plummeted in the early 90s and all those guys: macinnis, gilmour, nieuwendyk, suter, vernon, and eventually fleury were too expensive. to a lesser degree, mccrimmon, macoun, and makarov too.

but you're right. other than fleury and nieuwendyk, risebrough got a terrible return for two future conn smythe winners, a future hart nominee, and some really good playoff-tested defensemen in suter, mccrimmon, and macoun. other than iginla, regehr, and chiasson (and giguere, who they gave up on too early), he mostly got back young highly touted guys who were underachievers (godynyiuk, nylander, kidd, belak), or guys who had once been young and highly touted (leeman, petit, zalapski), or career-long losers and playoff underachievers (patrick, housley).

loob went back to sweden after winning the cup, and roberts suffered a near-career-ending injury and had been out of the league for almost two full seasons. they were lucky to get what they did for him.

 

[Big Phil]

Oh yeah, he wrecked that team a la Pocklington or Jack Adams. The only thing is the other two did it in the middle of a dynasty. The Flames had only won one Cup. Then again has Riseborough ever done ANYTHING? The Minnesota wild, anyone? Exactly.

 

[reckoning]

The '89 Calgary Cup winners had one of the highest payrolls in the league, and there was no way the Flames could keep that up considering those salaries were in U.S. dollars while their revenue was in Canadian bucks.

But they should've got a better return on those guys than they did. Only the Nieuwendyk trade ended up being better for the team hockey-wise.

It was almost criminal the way Fletcher suckered Risebrough on the Gilmour trade.

 

[Blades of Glory]

Oh yeah, he wrecked that team a la Pocklington or Jack Adams. The only thing is the other two did it in the middle of a dynasty. The Flames had only won one Cup. Then again has Riseborough ever done ANYTHING? The Minnesota wild, anyone? Exactly.

He coached the Flames for a season and a half. When he realized he had just dismantled his own team, he quit during the season. I think his final game was a 12-0 loss to Vancouver.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Keep in mind, it was one playoff gag job after another in Calgary after the Cup in '89. The Flames lost five consecutive first round series in which they had home ice advantage and were favoured, and never did win another playoff series until 2004. Obviously these star players (Vernon especially) were unable to win big games when it counted.

 

[Hoser]

The '89 Calgary Cup winners had one of the highest payrolls in the league, and there was no way the Flames could keep that up considering those salaries were in U.S. dollars while their revenue was in Canadian bucks.

The answer to the OP's question in a nutshell. Money. That's it. Risebrough gets a lot of flak for making piss-poor trades, but for the most part his hands were tied and he didn't have much of a choice.

The death knell came after the shortened '95 season. That season they still had a pretty good team. By that time they'd brought in Reichel and Titov, who were no slouches, and they still had a decent set of top-4 defencemen with Housley, Zalapski, Chiasson and Patrick.

But after that season it all went to hell. Nieuwendyk demanded far more money than the Flames could afford and they shipped him out for Corey Millen and some kid named Iginla. The guy who won the King Clancy Trophy only months earlier, the guy who supposedly "exemplified leadership qualities on and off the ice", the captain, held out.

Gary Roberts was coping with severe neck injuries. There were doubts he would ever play again.

Robert Reichel saw the writing on the wall and bailed, preferring to play in Germany. He came back the year after but he was never the same. He wanted out too.

Joel Otto walked.

By the end of the '95-'96 season they traded away Housley for Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse and Jocelyn Lemieux, because Al MacInnis' replacement made too much money too.

By the end of the '96-'97 season Zalapski and Patrick were injured, and the defensive corps consisted of Tommy Albelin, Todd Simpson, Chris O'Sullivan, Joel Bouchard, Cale Hulse and Glen Featherstone. You know you're screwed when your top defenceman was the number 6 guy in New Jersey a year earlier...