Do you remember Marc Habscheid?
Every week, we’ll look at a forgotten Calgary Flames player in the weekly series “A Flame from the Past.” Of course, the player had to have played a significant number of games for the Flames – at least a full season. Each week, I’ll put every Flames season (since moving to Calgary) in the Wheel of Names. This week, it landed on the 1991-92 season, with the player we’ll look at in today’s article being Marc Habscheid.
Born to Luxembourger parents in the small Saskatchewan town of Wymark, Habscheid started his junior career with the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades in 1979-80, scoring two goals and five points in 15 games. He became a regular in his draft year, scoring 34 goals and 97 points in 72 games, being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the sixth round of the 1981 draft.
Habscheid, who sadly never played for the Montréal Canadiens, played his last full junior season in 1981-81, scoring 64 goals and 151 points, which is tied for the 39th-most points in a WHL season. In his five post-season games in the league, he scored three goals and seven points.
The right-shot centre made his professional debut the same season, scoring a goal and four points in seven games.
In 1982-83, Habscheid became somewhat of a regular for the Oilers, scoring three goals and 13 points in 32 games. That same season, he played for the WHL’s Kamloops Junior Oilers, scoring seven goals and 23 points in six games, along with playing three post-season games in the Central Hockey League.
Habscheid mainly spent the 1983-84 season with the Moncton Alpines of the American Hockey League, scoring 19 goals and 56 points in 71 games, along with nine NHL games where he scored a goal. In 26 games with the Oilers in 1984-85, Habscheid scored five goals and eight points in 26 games, but spent the majority of the season with the AHL’s Nova Scotia Oilers where he scored 29 goals and 58 points in 48 games.
The Wymark native seemingly had had enough of playing in the AHL, as he refused to play for the Oilers’ AHL team and was traded to the Minnesota North Stars in Dec. 1985. He played 41 games in the AHL that season, scoring 18 goals and 50 points in 41 games, as well as six games played with the North Stars.
In 1986-87 and 1987-88, Habscheid played just 31 games with the North Stars, scoring six goals and 17 points. He mainly played with Team Canada those two seasons, scoring 53 goals and 122 points in 120 games.
Habscheid finally became a regular in 1988-89, where he scored a career-best 23 goals and 54 points in 75 games, along with a goal and three points in five post-season games. He had a productive 1989-90 season, scoring 15 goals and 26 points in 66 games in his first of two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings.
His final season in Michigan was a bit less productive, scoring nine goals and 17 points in 46 games. On Jun. 11, 1991, the Flames traded Brian MacLellan to the Wings for Habscheid. The centre only played one season with the Flames, scoring seven goals and 18 points in 46 games, the last season he played in the NHL.
Habscheid’s hockey career didn’t end, though. In 1992-93, he played with Bern SC in Switzerland. He returned to North America to play with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League, scoring 14 goals and 54 points in 59 games. That season was Habscheid’s first taste of coaching, as he served as a player-assistant.
Five more games were played in Switzerland the next season, as well as 43 games with the Thunder. His 1995-96 season was the final of his playing days, spending it with the Augsburg Panthers in Germany.
After his playing days, Habscheid got into coaching, winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup twice, once with the Kelowna Rockets in 2002-03, as well as the 2018-19 Prince Albert Raiders, winning the Memorial Cup in 2004. Habscheid has also served as an associate coach with the Boston Bruins in 2006-07, and most recently coached two seasons in Austria.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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