The best calendar year performances in Flames franchise history

Friends, the calendar year of 2022 is winding down and the Calgary Flames have just one last game remaining. It’s probably about time to start reflecting not just on this past year, but on calendar years in the distance past.

Here are, by statistical category, the biggest single calendar year regular season performances in Flames franchise history.

Three players had 105 points in a calendar year: Kent Nilsson (1984, 73 games), Gary Roberts (1992, 80 games), Bob MacMillan (1978, 83 games)

MacMillan’s 81 even strength points in 1978 is tops in that category, while Al MacInnis had 60 power play points in 79 games in 1990.

Lanny McDonald scored 62 goals in 1982, 42 of them at even strength.

Joe Nieuwendyk scored 24 power play goals in 1988, representing half of his 48 goals that year. His 11 game-winners that year is also a club record.

Three times a Flames player scored six shorthanded goals in a calendar year. Twice (1983 and 1984) Kent Nilsson did it, while Theo Fleury repeated the feat in 1991.

Willi Plett had 276 penalty minutes in 1981, an average of 3.45 per game.

With one game left this season, four Flames have set a new record with 90 games played: Rasmus Andersson, Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund. All four are expected to play on New Year’s Eve, pushing the expected record to 91. This dwarfs the previous high of 86 by Fleury in 1995.

It probably won’t shock you that Miikka Kiprusoff is the calendar year record holder for basically everything goaltending in the Flames franchise’s history.

He played 79 games in 2007. The team played 85 games that year.

He won 43 games in 2009.

He had a .927 save percentage in 22 games in 2004, and a .926 save percentage in 74 games in 2006 (in case you think 22 games is too small a sample size).

Similarly, he had a 1.85 goals against average in 22 games in 2004, and a 2.07 goals against average in 74 games in 2006.

He had nine shutouts in 2006.