The Calgary Flames have a lot of representation in the Hockey Hall of Fame

On Wednesday, the Hockey Hall of Fame will announce its’ 2023 class of inductees. In previous induction classes, the Calgary Flames have had a fairly large amount of representation – especially when you consider the franchise has only been around since 1972.

In advance of this year’s induction class, here’s a snapshot of the Flames’ representation in the Hall.

The Flames have had 11 players enshrined as players, plus another player who was inducted as a builder.

Grant Fuhr was inducted in 2003 after a very strong career. He played 23 games with the Flames in the final season of his career.

A pair of blueliners represent the Flames – oddly enough, the Flames traded one for the other in 1994. Al MacInnis was drafted by the Flames in 1981 and, by the time he was traded, was the club’s all-time leader in games and points. He was traded to the St. Louis Blues for Phil Housley.

MacInnis played 803 games with the Flames and was inducted into the Hall in 2007. Housley played 328 games with the Flames and was inducted into the Hall in 2015.

Lanny McDonald played 492 games with the Flames, serving as captain (as part of a split captaincy) for several seasons. He won the Stanley Cup, retired, and was inducted into the Hall in 1992.

Joe Mullen played 345 games with the Flames and won the first of his three Cups with the Flames in 1989. He was inducted in 2000.

Doug Gilmour and Joe Nieuwendyk were inducted together in 2011. Gilmour played 266 games and Nieuwendyk played 577 for the Flames, both serving as big pieces of their 1989 Cup win. When he was traded for junior player Jarome Iginla and veteran winger Corey Millen in 1995, Nieuwendyk was the Flames franchise’s all-time scoring leader.

(And yes, the Flames had trades that swapped future Hall of Famers for each other in both 1994 and 1995.)

Russian hockey legend Sergei Makarov was already a Hall of Fame calibre player by the time he joined the Flames in 1989-90. But he added to his credentials with a North American career that included 297 games with the Flames. He was inducted in 2016.

Obscure Canadian junior player Jarome Iginla spent 1,219 games with the Flames between 1996 and 2013, winning several prominent awards, and emerging as the club’s longest-serving captain and all-time leader in games, goals and points. He recently rejoined the club as special assistant to the general manager.

A pair of short-term Flames also ended up in the Hall, though largely on the basis of what they did away from Calgary. Brett Hull played 57 games and became an offensive dynamo during his time with the St. Louis Blues, earning induction in 2009. Martin St. Louis played 69 games and became a really reliable scorer throughout the remainder of his career, primarily with Tampa Bay. He was inducted in 2018.

And Pat Quinn, who played 374 games with Atlanta at the tail-end of his playing career, was posthumously inducted as a builder in 2016 after an impressive career as a coach and executive.

Six individuals were inducted as builders following careers that included stops with the Flames.

Coaching legend “Badger” Bob Johnson was a key figure in modernizing the Flames in the early 1980s, helping turn them into a powerhouse. After he left the Flames organization he ended up with the Pittsburgh Penguins and helped turn them into a powerhouse as well. Unfortunately Johnson passed away in 1991 after a battle with cancer. He was inducted into the Hall in 1992.

Managerial legend Cliff Fletcher spent the better part of two decades with the Flames, serving as general manager from 1972 through 1991. He transformed the club from a ragtag expansion franchise and turned them into the 1980s powerhouse that could go toe-to-toe with the Edmonton Oilers. He was inducted in 2004.

Two of the Flames’ original owners were also inducted: Harley Hotchkiss (2006) and Daryl Seaman (2010). Both were intensively involved in hockey-related philanthropy, including serving prominent roles of the growth of Hockey Canada throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Hotchkiss also served as the chairman of the NHL’s board of governors for several years, and was one of the central figures in pushing for revenue-sharing, currency equalization and the salary cap in an effort to solidify the league’s smaller markets.

Finally, two builders spent short periods with the Flames. Coaching legend Al Arbour (inducted in 1996) was briefly a pro scout with the Atlanta Flames after being fired by the St. Louis Blues in 1972-73, before landing with the New York Islanders in 1973. And Bill Hay served as Flames president and CEO between 1991 and 1995, though he’s arguably best known for his role as an executive for Hockey Canada and the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2015.

A pair of local legends were honoured by the Hall via media awards. Writer Eric Duhatschek received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 2001, while play-by-play voice Peter Maher received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2006.