On Tuesday, the Calgary Flames take on the Utah Hockey Club for the final time this season.
It looks as if the Hockey Club will wind down their first season without making the post-season, something old selves (the Arizona Coyotes) are all too familiar with. Aside from one surprising run in 2012, the franchise hasn’t had any type of success in the post-season since they were the original Winnipeg Jets.
Like the Seattle Kraken in last week’s Throwback Tuesday, the Flames and Hockey Club don’t have a lot of history since the team moved to Salt Lake City. However, the Flames and Coyotes made plenty of trades while the original Jets and Flames and numerous post-season battles.
In this week’s edition of Throwback Tuesday, we’ll look at some trades and playoff battles between the original Jets and the Arizona/Phoenix Coyotes.
Editor’s Note: The Utah Hockey Club is technically an expansion team and not a relocation team. They don’t carry the history of the Arizona/Phoneix Coyotes or the original Winnipeg Jets. It’s weird.
Original Winnipeg Jets
Funnily enough, the Calgary Flames and original Winnipeg Jets never made a trade. However, before the Jets played a game in the National Hockey League after the World Hockey Association merger, they traded Paul Terbenche to the Atlanta Flames for future considerations. It was the sixth-last trade for the Flames in Atlanta, while it was the original Jets’ fourth trade in the league.
They never made a trade after that, likely because the two teams ran into each other in the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. The first was in the 1985 post-season, with the Flames falling in four games in the division semifinal.
In the next post-season, the Flames got the better of the Jets, as they swept them in three games in the divisional series. The Flames then went on to beat the Oilers in seven games as well as the St. Louis Blues to head to their first Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, they fell in five games to the Montréal Canadiens.
Expectations were high for the 1986-97 season, as the Flames finished with the third-most points in the league. Unfortunately, the Jets got the better of the Flames in the best-of-seven first round, defeating them in six games. It’s okay, though, as the Flames eventually won their Stanley Cup in 1989.
Looking at the current Jets’ history, the Flames have played them once, defeating them in four games in the qualifying round. As for trades, the two teams have linked up for one trade, as the Flames sent John Negrin to the Jets for Akim Aliu.
Once the original Jets moved to Phoenix, the two teams linked up for plenty of trades.
Trades between the Coyotes and Flames
The first came on Jun. 23, 2001, as the Flames sent the 11th-overall pick to the Coyotes in exchange for the 14th-overall pick and a 2001 second-round pick. With the 14th overall pick, the Flames selected Chuck Kobasew, who played parts of four seasons with Calgary where he scored 34 goals and 71 points in 210 games. He was eventually traded with Andrew Ferance for Wayne Primeau, Brad Stuart, and the pick used to select T.J. Brodie.
On the other hand, the Coyotes used the 11th overall pick to select Fredrik Sjöström. The Swede played seven seasons in the NHL, scoring 46 goals and 104 points in 489 games. Lastly, the second-round pick the Flames got in the trade was used to pick Andrei Taratukhin, who never played an NHL game.
The next trade between the two teams came over three years later, as the Flames acquired Daymond Langkow from the Coyotes for Denis Gauthier and Oleg Saprykin. Langkow played 392 games with the Flames, scoring 123 goals and 288 points in 392 games. The two players the Flames sent to the Coyotes played for at most two seasons.
Eventually, it seemed as if the Coyotes had seller’s remorse with Langkow, as they acquired him from the Flames for Lee Stempniak almost seven years later to the day. Stempniak spent his career as a journeyman, often being dealt before the trade deadline, but spent three seasons with the Flames, where he scored 31 goals and 83 points in 160 games. Langkow’s final season was in 2011-12.
Before the 2006 trade deadline, the Flames sent Steven Reinprecht and Philippe Sauve to the Coyotes for Brian Boucher and Mike LeClerc. Boucher only played three games with the Flames and ended his career after the 2013-14 season. LeClerc’s final 15 games were spent with the Flames where he scored a goal and five points in that time.
It wasn’t a great trade for the Flames, as Reinprecht spent four seasons with the Coyotes, scoring 51 goals and 143 points in 231 games. Sauve was a goalie who played 32 NHL games, seven of which came after the trade.
I swear I didn’t write Jamie Lundmark’s “A Flame from the Past” to mention him in most Throwback Tuesdays. The first trade saw the Flames send a 2006 fourth-round pick to the Coyotes for Lundmark. That pick turned out to be Doug Rogers, but he was picked by the New York Islanders as the Flames traded that pick to move up in the draft, selecting Jonas Ahnelöv.
Moving to more sizable trades, the Flames and Coyotes made two trades involving Brandon Prust. The first saw the Flames trade Prust, Matthew Lombardi, and their 2010 first to the Coyotes for Olli Jokinen and a 2009 third. Jokinen scored 19 goals and 50 points in 78 games in his first stint with the Flames before he was traded to the New York Rangers. He eventually re-signed.
The first was used to select Brandon Gormley, who plays in Germany with the Iserlohn Roosters, while the Flames selected Josh Birkholz with the third-rounder.
In the next trade that the two teams made, the Flames traded defenceman Jim Vandermeer to get Prust back. Prust was eventually packaged with Jokinen in the same trade to the Rangers.
And then you come to recent times. On Feb. 20, 2017, the Flames traded a 2018 fifth-round pick and a 2017 third-round pick to the Coyotes for defenceman Michael Stone. The defenceman played seven seasons with the Flames, scoring 17 goals and 49 points in 228 games, most recently playing with the team in 2022-23.
The 2017 third was eventually traded by the Coyotes to the Edmonton Oilers, who used it to select Stuart Skinner. Similarly, the 2018 fifth was traded, this time to the New Jersey Devils, and was used to pick Akira Schmid.
Mike Smith was the biggest reason why the Coyotes made the 2012 Western Conference Finals. On Jun. 17, 2017, the Flames sent Brandon Hickey, Chad Johnson, and a 2018 third-round pick. Interestingly, the condition made that pick transfer if the Flames failed to make the post-season (they didn’t). Smith played two seasons with the Flames, posting a .90 save percentage and 2.68 goals against average in 97 games.
Thankfully, the trade didn’t bite the Flames in the butt. The third was used to select Niklas Nordgren, who played in Finland’s second-tier. Hickey plays for the Vegas Golden Knights’ American Hockey League team and hasn’t played an NHL game. Johnson played 36 games with the Flames, where he had a .910 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average.
The last trade between the two teams was an NHL first. On Mar. 3, 2023, the Flames trade Brett Ritchie and Connor Mackey to the Coyotes in exchange for Troy Stecher and Nick Ritchie. It was the first trade in NHL history that involved two brothers.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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