2002–03 Calgary Flames season

2002–03 Calgary Flames
Division 5th Northwest
Conference 12th Western
2002–03 record 29–36–13–4
Home record 14–16–10–1
Road record 15–20–3–3
Goals for 186 (27th)
Goals against 228 (18th)
Team information
General Manager Craig Button
Coach Greg Gilbert
Darryl Sutter
Captain Craig Conroy
Alternate captains Bob Boughner
Jarome Iginla
Arena Pengrowth Saddledome
Average attendance 16,239
Team leaders
Goals Jarome Iginla (35)
Assists Craig Conroy (37)
Points Jarome Iginla (67)
Penalties in minutes Scott Nichol (149)
Wins Roman Turek (27)
Goals against average Roman Turek (2.57)
<2001–02 2003–04>

The 2002–03 Calgary Flames season was the 23rd National Hockey League season in Calgary. A relatively successful start to the season quickly gave way to disaster as the Flames lost 11 of 12 games in a November stretch dropping the Flames out of contention, ultimately failing to qualify for the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

The season began as the last had ended: with forward Marc Savard and head coach Greg Gilbert in bitter, public feud. After arguing in the media for nearly a year, the Flames finally granted the disgruntled players request, trading Savard to the Atlanta Thrashers.[1] Gilbert himself would not last much longer with the Flames, as he would be fired by the club barely two weeks after Savard was dealt.[2]

The Flames would quickly find a replacement for Gilbert, announcing they had hired Darryl Sutter shortly before the new year.[3] Sutter immediately began shaping the Flames to his own style, and the Flames finished 19–16–8–1 under their new bench boss.

Following the season, the Flames announced that they would not renew General Manager Craig Button's contract. Sutter took over as GM, carrying the dual roles until the end of the 2005–06 season.[4]

Flames mascot, Harvey the Hound, gained widespread publicity in January 2003 following an incident with Edmonton Oilers head coach, Craig MacTavish. With the Flames leading 4–0, Harvey was taunting the Oilers behind their bench. The frustrated coach reached up and ripped Harvey's signature red tongue out of his mouth, tossing it into the crowd. The incident would seem to spark the Oilers, who scored three goals shortly after. The Flames would hold on to win 4–3, however.[5] The incident made headlines throughout North America, and led to many jokes, including having many other NHL team mascots arrive at the 2003 All-Star Game with their tongues hanging out.[6]

Regular season

The Flames struggled offensively and were shut out a league-high 10 times, tied with the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins.[7]

Northwest Division
No. CR GP W L T OTL GF GA Pts
13Colorado Avalanche 82 42 19 13 8 251 194 105
24Vancouver Canucks 82 45 23 13 1 264 208 104
36Minnesota Wild82 42 29 10 1 198 178 95
48Edmonton Oilers 82 36 26 11 9 231 230 92
512Calgary Flames 82 29 36 13 4 186 228 75

[8]

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Schedule and results

2002–03 Game Log

Playoffs

Calgary finished 12th in the Western Conference, 17 points behind the 8th place Edmonton Oilers. The Flames missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

Player statistics

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

    Regular season   Playoffs
Player # GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
Jarome Iginla 12 75 35 32 67 49 - - - - -
Craig Conroy 22 79 22 37 59 36 - - - - -
Chris Drury 18/37 80 23 30 53 33 - - - - -
Martin Gelinas 23 81 21 31 52 51 - - - - -
Toni Lydman 32 81 6 20 26 28 - - - - -
Stephane Yelle 11 82 10 15 25 50 - - - - -
Oleg Saprykin 19 52 8 15 23 46 - - - - -
Chris Clark 17 81 10 12 22 126 - - - - -
Dave Lowry 10 34 5 14 19 22 - - - - -
Bob Boughner 6 69 3 14 17 126 - - - - -
Jordan Leopold 4 58 4 10 14 12 - - - - -
Denis Gauthier 3 72 1 11 12 99 - - - - -
Robyn Regehr 28 76 0 12 12 87 - - - - -
Scott Nichol 40 68 5 5 10 149 - - - - -
Blake Sloan 24 67 2 8 10 28 - - - - -
Petr Buzek 8 44 3 5 8 14 - - - - -
Chuck Kobasew 7 23 4 2 6 8 - - - - -
Craig Berube 16/27 55 2 4 6 100 - - - - -
Steve Begin 26 50 3 1 4 51 - - - - -
Blair Betts 15 9 1 3 4 0 - - - - -
Andrew Ference 21 16 0 4 4 6 - - - - -
Shean Donovan 16 13 1 2 3 7 - - - - -
Steve Montador 5 50 1 1 2 114 - - - - -
Mike Commodore 2 6 0 1 1 19 - - - - -
Ladislav Kohn 43 3 0 1 1 2 - - - - -
Mike Mottau 36 4 0 0 0 0 - - - - -
Rick Mrozik 51 2 0 0 0 0 - - - - -
Robert Dome 38 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - -
All traded players -- 16 21 37 78 - - - - -

Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Calgary. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

    Regular season   Playoffs
Player # GP Min W L T GA SO Sv% GAA GP Min W L GA SO SV% GAA
Roman Turek 1 65 3822 27 29 9 164 4 .902 2.57 - - - - - - - -
Jamie McLennan 33 22 1165 2 11 4 58 0 .892 2.99 - - - - - - - -

Transactions

The Flames were involved in the following transactions during the 2002–03 season:[9][10]

Trades

Offseason To Calgary Flames
Jamie McLennan
To Minnesota Wild
2002 9th round pick
October 1, 2002 To Calgary Flames
Chris Drury
Stephane Yelle
To Colorado Avalanche
Derek Morris
Jeff Shantz
Dean McAmmond
November 15, 2002 To Calgary Flames
Ruslan Zainullin
To Atlanta Thrashers
Marc Savard
February 10, 2003 To Calgary Flames
Andrew Ference
To Pittsburgh Penguins
Conditional draft pick
March 11, 2003 To Calgary Flames
Shean Donovan
To Pittsburgh Penguins
Mattias Johansson
Micki DuPont

Free agents

Player signed Former team
Martin Gelinas Carolina Hurricanes
Robert Dome Pittsburgh Penguins
Player lost New team
Clarke Wilm Nashville Predators
Jason Botterill Buffalo Sabres
Dallas Eakins Atlanta Thrashers
Alan Letang New York Islanders
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Draft picks

Calgary's picks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft in Toronto, Ontario.[11] The Flames had the 9th overall pick, however opted to drop down one spot to 10th via a trade with the Florida Panthers.

Rnd Pick Player Nationality Position Team (league) NHL statistics
GPGAPtsPIM
110Eric Nystrom United StatesLWUniversity of Michigan (CCHA)5476848116381
239Brian McConnell United StatesFBoston University (HE)
390Matthew Lombardi CanadaCVictoriaville Tigres (QMJHL)536101161262293
4112Yuri Artemenkov RussiaRWKrylja
5141Jiri Cetkovsky Czech RepublicRWZlin (Czech Jr.)
5142 Emanuel Peter  SwitzerlandCKloten (Swiss Jr.)
5146Victor Bobrov RussiaFHC CSKA (RSL)
5159Kristofer Persson SwedenRWModo Jr.
6176Curtis McElhinney CanadaGColorado College (WCHA)12941–51–7, 2.95GAA
7202David Van Der Gulik CanadaRWChilliwack Chiefs (BCHL)492111310
7203Pierre Johnsson SwedenRWFarjestad Jr.
8238Jyri Marttinen FinlandDJyvaskyla
Statistics are updated to the end of the 2014–15 NHL season. denotes player was on an NHL roster in 2014–15.

Farm teams

Saint John Flames

The 2002–03 season would be the tenth, and last, season in New Brunswick, as the Flames bought out the local ownershi's share of the team following the season and suspended operations. The "Baby Flames" finished 32–41–6–1, last in the Canadian Division, and out of the playoffs. Robert Dome led the team with 27 goals and 56 points. Dany Sabourin and Levente Szuper split goaltending duties for the Flames.

Johnstown Chiefs

The Chiefs finished the 2002–03 season with a record of 28–33–11, finishing fifth in the Northwest Division, failing to qualify for the playoffs.

Following the season, the Flames announced they were switching affiliations to a new expansion team, the Las Vegas Wranglers.

See also

References

  1. Flames ship Savard to Thrashers, cbc sports, November 15, 2002, accessed December 7, 2006.
  2. Flames face Avs minus Gilbert, cbc sports, December 3, 2002, accessed December 7, 2006.
  3. Flames find their man, cbc sports, December 29, 2002, accessed December 7, 2006.
  4. Calgary Flames Executive, calgaryflames.com, accessed December 7, 2006.
  5. Pyette, Ryan, MacTavish leaves Harvey the Hound speechless , London Free Press, January 23, 2003.
  6. Francis, Eric, The uncivil war, Calgary Sun, September 21, 2003.
  7. http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2003_games.html
  8. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2009). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2010. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 162.
  9. Off-season trades and signings, cbc sports, July 17, 2002, accessed December 6, 2006.
  10. 2002–03 Calgary Flames preview, Sports Illustrated, Accessed January 10, 2007.
  11. 2002 NHL Entry Draft results, nhl.com, accessed December 6, 2006.
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