Long-Timers: Owen Nolan
By Ryan Pike
3 years agoIn the 102-year history of the National Hockey League, 348 individuals have played 1,000 or more regular season games. 44 of them, or 12.6%, have played some part of their career with the Atlanta or Calgary Flames. We call these players Long-Timers.
Let’s take a look at Owen Nolan.
Born in Belfast but raised in Ontario, Nolan was a star with the OHL’s Cornwall Royals and was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 NHL Draft.
Going pro the following season, Nolan spent five seasons with the Nordiques and had three great ones following a solid if unspectacular rookie year. He had seasons of 42, 36 and 30 goals, but also had a campaign limited to six games due to an injury.
Shortly after the relocation to Colorado – as in, a handful of games – Nolan was traded to San Jose for Sandis Ozolinsh. He began his Sharks runs with back-to-back 30 goal campaigns, then followed up with a superb 1999-2000 season that saw him score 44 goals and finish fifth in Hart Trophy balloting. He remained strong during much of his run in San Jose, notably capturing Olympic gold in 2002 as well.
Nolan’s nomadic final few seasons began with a trade to Toronto for Alyn McCauley, Brad Boyes and a first round pick. His run in Toronto was cut short due to a clause in Nolan’s deal relating to lockouts. Here’s the summary, via Wikipedia:
Nolan broke new ground in contract negotiations, having a clause put in that stated if the 2004–05 NHL season was cancelled, then he would gain a player option for an additional year in 2005–06. However, with the NHL CBA in place, this option became a topic of debate. With the new NHL salary cap, the Maple Leafs deemed Nolan’s salary too high, and refuse to recognize Nolan as under contract. Nolan argued that the option was valid, that he would play, and be paid, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that he deserved to be paid during the 2004–2005 NHL lock-out due to injury. The Maple Leafs, who deemed Nolan as healthy just after the lock-out, claimed that the injury was incurred off the ice and refused to pay Nolan’s desired US$12 million. The case went to an arbitrator. This case was settled in late 2006, however, the terms of the agreement by Leafs management and Nolan were not disclosed.
After sitting out the 2005-06, Nolan had relatively brief stints on free agent deals with Phoenix (2006-07), Calgary (2007-08) and Minnesota (2008-10). During his NHL run he was pretty much a clockwork 50-to-60 point player whenever he played a full season, only dipping below 40 points during his season in Calgary and his last season in Minnesota.
Nolan played 2010-11 in Switzerland, then hung up his skates. He played high-level hockey for the better part of two decades, played a ton of big games and won Olympic gold. That’s not a shabby career. He was also the last Flames player to wear #11 before Mikael Backlund.
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