Top 50 Flames of All Time: #26 Doug Gilmour

In hockey, as in the rest of life, sometimes people are in the right place at the right time and help a team get to where they need to go. In the 1980s, the promising Calgary Flames matured into a powerhouse and they added a handful of players that pushed them over the top.

On the #26 spot on our list we find Doug Gilmour, a short-term Flame who made a big-time impact.

A product of Kingston, Ontario – the town that also gave us the Tragically Hip – Gilmour played his major junior with the Cornwall Royals and was selected in the 1982 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues.

Gilmour went pro a season later, scoring 25 goals as a rookie and getting dubbed “Killer” due to sharing a similar last name to serial killer Gary Gilmore and his rugged, physical playing style. Gilmour played five seasons with the Blues, never scoring fewer than 20 goals – and even hitting the 100-point mark once.

Gilmour’s excellence brought him to the attention of the Flames, who were in the middle of an arms race with the Edmonton Oilers as they tried to get past their provincial rivals in their quest for a Stanley Cup. So the Flames sent 50-goal scorer Mike Bullard (along with depth players Mike Corkery and Craig Coxe) to the Blues in exchange for Gilmour, Steve Bozek, Michael Dark and Mark Hunter.

And then the Flames won a Stanley Cup in Gilmour’s first season, with Gilmour scoring twice – the game-winner followed by an empty-netter – to clinch the Cup victory in Game 6 of the final series with Montreal.

In addition to being clutch and scoring one of the most important goals in franchise history – you could easily argue the most important goal – Gilmour was consistently good for the Flames. He received Selke Trophy votes in all four seasons he spent in Calgary, and a point-per-game effort was his worst statistical Flames performance.

By 1991-92, the Flames were having challenges negotiating an extension with Gilmour and things eventually boiled over mid-season following a tense arbitration hearing, leading to the biggest trade in NHL history at the time and arguably the worst trade in Flames franchise history in terms of getting value for assets. The Flames shipped out Gilmour, Rick Wamsley, Ric Nattress, Jamie Macoun and Kent Manderville to Toronto in exchange for Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Alex Godynyuk, Jeff Reese and Craig Berube.

The trade turned out disastrously for the Flames and was pretty decent for the Leafs. Gilmour remained pretty productive for several more seasons. He played with the Leafs, Devils, Blackhawks, Sabres and Canadiens before retiring in 2003.

Gilmour’s exit from the Flames wasn’t amazing, but he did a whole lot of good things on the ice while wearing a Flames sweater.

Honourable mentions | #50 Brad Treliving | #49 Sonia Scurfield | #48 Curtis Glencross | #47 Colin Patterson | #46 Jiri Hudler | #45 Jim Peplinski | #44 Jim “Bearcat” Murray | #43 Nelson Skalbania | #42 Dion Phaneuf | #41 Reggie Lemelin | #40 Joel Otto | #39 Dan Bouchard | #38 Paul Reinhart | #37 Tom Lysiak | #36 Eric Vail | #35 Tim Hunter | #34 Al Coates | #33 Harvey the Hound | #32 Martin Gelinas | #31 Sergei Makarov | #30 Elias Lindholm | #29 Mikael Backlund | #28 Hakan Loob | #27 Matthew Tkachuk | #26 Doug Gilmour