Looking back at the five trades between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks

The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks have a long, storied rivalry on the ice. And while their rivalry seems to have slightly less animosity than the historic clashes between the Flames and Oilers, the two clubs seem nearly as hesitant to make trades with each other as the Alberta teams have been.

Since the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980, the two clubs have made just five trades with each other. Here’s a very odd trip down memory lane.

Coincidentally, Fletcher took Quinn in the 1972 expansion draft and he captained the Atlanta team for two seasons. Anyway, this trade was made in the run-up to the 1988 trade deadline. The Flames were second overall in the league (behind Montreal) but had Edmonton hot on their heels. Looking to add a bit of beef to their lineup for the playoffs, the Flames sent a pair of minor-leaguers (Bakovic and Bradley) and depth defender Guy to the Canucks. Guy was a “future considerations” piece of the deal; the Canucks were given the option as part of the swap to select a player from the Flames’ farm system to complete this trade.

The Flames won the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time, but ended up getting swept by Edmonton in the second round of the playoffs. Coxe played just nine games – seven in the regular season and two in the playoffs. Coxe was traded to the Blues the following September.

The Flames made a few trades in the run-up to the 1988-89 season. One was a seven-player deal that saw the Flames land Doug Gilmour from St. Louis, which also saw the Flames re-acquire Bozek from the Blues – Bozek was sent to St. Louis in March in the deal that brought Ramage and Rick Wamsley to Calgary.

Anyway, Bozek didn’t even spend a day as a Flame again before being swapped to Vancouver with Reinhart. The idea was that the Flames had a ton of strong NHL blueliners and Reinhart’s injury issues were starting to catch up with him. Looking to cash out while Reinhart had some value, the Flames pulled the trigger.

The Flames selected Veli-Pekka Kautonen at 50th overall with Vancouver’s pick.

This was actually the last trade Fletcher made as Flames GM before his departure. In the run-up to the 1991 trade deadline, the Flames had already clinched a playoff spot and were battling with the Los Angeles Kings for the Smythe Division lead. In theory, adding Stern would give them a bit of physicality and grit (while re-acquiring guy would allow them to add Stern while maintaining defensive depth).

Even with Stern’s added grit, the Flames lost to the Oilers in seven games in the first round of the 1991 playoffs.

This was pretty cut-and-dried: Baertschi had requested a trade out of Calgary after having some developmental ups and downs with the club. The Flames sent him west and received a draft pick they used to select Rasmus Andersson.

Granlund had hit some developmental speed bumps with the Flames and seemed prime for a change of scenery. Similarly, Shinkaruk had experienced the same thing in Vancouver, and so this swap allowed each guy a fresh start. Shinkaruk was primarily a minor-leaguer with the Flames, though.