A history of Flames numbers: #17, Lance Bouma
By Ari Yanover
7 years agoWhen Lance Bouma was with the Vancouver Giants and Abbotsford Heat, he wore the number 10. When he joined the Flames, it was under his training camp number of 57. When he made the team full time, he ended up with #17 – as Corban Knight, freshly traded for, was immediately granted #10.
Bouma played more NHL games than Knight that season. (Bouma played more NHL games that season than Knight has in his entire career.) One of these players is still with the Flames – and he ended up with a slightly higher number than may have been originally anticipated.
#17 on the Flames
Bouma is the 21st player in Flames history to ever wear #17:
- LW John Stewart
- RW Hilliard Graves
- C Don Laurence
- C Garry Unger
- C Rick Adduono
- RW Jamie Hislop
- C Mike Eaves
- C Jiri Hrdina
- RW/C Marc Habscheid
- C Wes Walz
- C Todd Hlushko
- C/RW Bob Sweeney
- LW Hnat Domenichelli
- RW Sergei Krivokrasov
- RW Chris Clark
- LW Jason Boterill
- RW Chris Simon
- RW Eric Godard
- RW Rene Bourque
- RW Blake Comeau
- C Lance Bouma
Half of these guys are right wingers which, today, could probably improve Bouma’s standing a little in the organization. (This is what Alex Chiasson is for now, right?) Bouma is technically a centre, but plays pretty much just the left side nowadays – and is only the fourth guy to wear this number in over four decades to play that position.
The best #17
At a glance, at least points-wise, Bouma looks like one of the weaker players to ever don the number. He’s not, say, Godard, but even Simon – who we just saw in #15 – scored at a better rate than he did (as did fellow #17 who actually got to wear #10, Comeau). Bouma actually falls pretty close to the bottom of the list.
Unger, who also wore #7 for the Flames, had the most impressive career of this group – but he only played one season for the Flames.
After him, going by points per game, it’s Graves, who spent three seasons playing for the Flames. And after him? Bourque, who had the number just before Comeau and Bouma.
Previous numbers
| #1 – Brian Elliott | #3 – Jyrki Jokipakka |
| #5 – Mark Giordano | #6 – Dennis Wideman |
| #7 – T.J. Brodie | #11 – Mikael Backlund |
| #13 – Johnny Gaudreau | #15 – Ladislav Smid |
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