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A Flame From the Past: Jeff Friesen
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Mar 21, 2026, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 21, 2026, 02:16 EDT
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Do you remember Jeff Friesen?
Every once in a while, we take a look at a player who once played for the Calgary Flames in a series called “A Flame From the Past.” This player has to have played a significant number of games for the Flames. I’ll put every Flames’ season into a Wheel of Names, and this time, it landed on the 2006-07 season. In this article, we’ll look at Jeff Friesen.
In a recent edition of A Flame From the Past, we looked at Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan product Blake Comeau, who was later traded for a draft pick which was used to select another player from Meadow Lake, Eric Roy. Well, the small city of just over 5,300 people produced another National Hockey League player, Jeff Friesen.
The left winger was one of two players born in the Northern Saskatchewan city who went on to win the Stanley Cup, the other being Dwight King. But before the start of Friesen’s NHL career, he played for the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.
He played just four games with the team in 1991-92, scoring three goals and four points. In his first full season with the team, he scored 45 goals and 83 points in 70 games, with an additional seven goals and 17 points in 13 games. Friesen’s draft year saw him score 51 goals and 118 points in 66 games, as well as three goals and five points in four post-season games.
That led to the San Jose Sharks selecting the left winger 11th overall in the 1994 draft. Because of the 1994-95 lockout, Friesen began his 1994-95 season with the Pats, scoring 21 goals and 44 points in 25 games, but he joined the Sharks once the season resumed. In his rookie season, he scored 15 goals and 25 points in 48 games.
Entering the 1995 playoffs as the seventh seed, the Sharks knocked off the Calgary Flames in seven games, but eventually fell to the Detroit Red Wings, the same team they upset in the 1994 playoffs. 
Friesen’s first full season in the NHL was in 1995-96, where he scored 15 goals and 46 points in 79 games. He followed that up with a 28-goal, 62-point season in 1996-97, then 31 goals and 63 points in 79 games during the 1997-98, which was a career-best. The Sharks also played playoff hockey that year, as Friesen picked up an assist in six games.
His production continued into 1998-99, even if his scoring numbers dipped. Over 78 games, Friesen scored 22 goals and 57 points, along with two goals and four points in six playoff games. In 1999-200, Friesen scored 26 goals and 61 points, the final time he reached the 60-point plateau.
It also happened to be his final season, because after 64 games where he scored 12 goals and 36 points in 2000-01, he was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim alongside a draft pick and Steve Shields for Teemu Selänne. After the trade, Friesen scored two goals and 12 points in 15 games.
In his only season in Orange County, the left winger scored 17 goals and 43 points in 81 games. During that off-season, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils alongside Maxim Balmochnykh and Oleg Tverdovsky for Petr Sýkora, Mike Commodore, Jean-Francois Damphousse, and Igor Pohanka.
The Mighty Ducks could’ve used Friesen that season, as he scored 23 goals and 51 points in 81 games. In the post-season, he added 10 goals and 14 points in 24 games, as the Devils knocked off the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games. You’ll never guess who scored twice in the winner-take-all Game 7.
Friesen scored 17 goals and 37 points in 81 games in 2003-04, which happened to be his last productive season. After the 2004-05 lockout, Friesen played for the Washington Capitals, scoring three goals and seven points in 33 games. Before the trade deadline, he was traded back to the Mighty Ducks, finishing with a goal and four points in 18 regular season games, then three goals and four points in 16 post-season games.
His final season came with the Flames, scoring six goals and 12 points in 72 games, while also playing five post-season games. That was the end of Friesen’s NHL career, playing five games with the American Hockey League’s Lake Erie Monsters in 2007-08. He headed overseas for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 season, winning the Deutsche Eishockey Liga’s trophy in 2010-11 with the Berlin Polar Bears, retiring at season’s end.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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