We’re continuing our series highlighting former Calgary Flames players whose contributions may have been glossed over with time. After carefully selecting and analyzing five candidates from the 1980s, our next chronological stop is the 1990s. Many fans of the Flames cannot forget the stars of this decade such as Al MacInnis, Theoren Fleury, Mike Vernon, Gary Roberts, and Joe Nieuwendyk, among others. The franchise’s best player of all-time, Jarome Iginla, came into the league at the end of this time frame. The decade saw a step back from the team’s dominance during the late 1980s as they made the playoffs just five times and never advanced past the first round. Towards the end of the nineties things got pretty bad, as the Flames traded away many of the aforementioned stars and the team spiraled into a dismal seven-season stretch of missing the postseason that wouldn’t end until 2003-04.
Related: Calgary Flames: Forgotten Players From the 1980s
While the decade’s on-ice product may not have lived up to the lofty expectations created by its predecessor, the fans’ immense love for the team remained and a rich history continued to be built upon. Many players came through the Saddledome doors and gave their heart and souls for the team during this period, and due to the team shortcomings they have seemingly been looked over. Without further ado, here are five forgotten Flames players from the 1990s.
Rick Tabaracci, Goaltender
We’re beginning this decade’s list with a netminder, Canadian Rick Tabaracci. Born and raised in Toronto, Tabaracci had a successful junior hockey career with the Ontario Hockey League’s Cornwall Royals where he won 80 games over three seasons. He got plenty of NHL attention, and the Pittsburgh Penguins drafted him in the second round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He made just a single appearance for the Penguins before they traded him in a six-player deal to the Winnipeg Jets. Tabaracci played parts of three seasons with the Jets before he was moved again, this time to the Washington Capitals. After the Flames had traded Vernon to the Detroit Red Wings in 1994, they needed another goalie to help out new starter Trevor Kidd. They sent a fifth-round draft pick to the Capitals in exchange for Tabaracci’s services.
Tabaracci suited up in five contests with the Flames, going 2-0-1 with a sparkling 1.49 goals against average (GAA) and .946 save percentage (SV%). The following season (1995-96) he split the crease quite evenly with Kidd, as he got into 43 games. Tabaracci would finish with a 19-16-3 record and three shutouts. At many times throughout the campaign he vastly outplayed his counterpart, who went 15-21-8. Unfortunately for both goalies and the team, they were swept in round one of the playoffs by the Chicago Blackhawks. Tabaracci played seven more games for the team in 1996-97 before they shipped him off to the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the Lightning would trade him right back in 1997 and he would become the starter, going 13-22-6 while the team missed the postseason. Tabaracci would be traded back to the Capitals in 1998 and play there, for the Atlanta Thrashers, and Colorado Avalanche before retiring in 2001. In all, he totaled 97 games, 36 wins, and four shutouts with the Flames.
Chris Dingman, Left Wing
Next up is the Flames’ first-round draft pick back in 1994, forward Chris Dingman. A native of rival Edmonton, Dingman had great size (6-foot-3, 243 pounds) and showcased a scoring touch in junior, racking up 87 goals and 196 points over 201 Western Hockey League (WHL) games with the Brandon Wheat Kings. He broke into the league as a member of the 1997-98 Flames and recorded three goals and three assists in 70 games. Sadly, the offensive side of his game dried up. However, “Dinger” quickly carved out a role as a pugilist, dropping the gloves at a moment’s notice to provide his team with a spark or protect his colleagues from wrongdoings. He had a career-high 149 penalties in minutes (PIMs) in his rookie season. The tough guy played just two games in the 1998-99 season as he spent most of his time down in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Dingman was the other piece involved in the well-remembered trade that saw Fleury join the Avalanche in exchange for Robyn Regehr, Wade Belak, and Rene Corbet in 1999. He played the next two seasons with the club, which culminated in a Stanley Cup victory in 2001. Next, he would be jettisoned to the Carolina Hurricanes and the Lightning. Dingman’s name would again be etched into the Stanley Cup as he and the Lightning ironically (and controversially) defeated the Flames in the 2004 Cup Final. He suited up for one more campaign split between them and their AHL affiliate after the 2004-05 NHL lockout, then in Sweden and Denmark before retiring in 2008. As a Flame, Dingman scored three goals, six points and racked up 166 PIMs in 72 appearances.
Ed Ward, Right Wing
Third on our list is another gritty forward from Edmonton, winger Ed Ward. Ward went the college route, skating for Northern Michigan University from 1987-91. The Quebec Nordiques used a sixth-round draft pick on the 6-foot-3 forward in 1988, and after two seasons in the minors he made his NHL debut with the team in 1993-94. He scored his first career NHL goal and no assists in seven games and spent more time in the AHL before he was sent to the Flames in 1994 for Francois Groleau. Ward scored two points in his first two games in a Flames uniform. He couldn’t quite make the roster full-time; he played 41 games in 1995-96 and 40 games in 1996-97. In that time he accumulated eight goals, 21 points and 93 PIMs. Like Dingman, Ward’s job wasn’t to score goals but to throw his body around and answer the bell in terms of fighting.
After he finally cracked the team permanently in 1997-98, his role became more clear and alongside Dingman the Flames became a formidable physical force despite their losing record. To his credit, Ward still recorded four goals and nine points to go along with 122 PIMs in 64 contests. With Dingman gone in 1999 and enforcers Jason Wiemer, Todd Simpson, and Cale Hulse taking care of most of the fighting, Ward became a bit more expendable. The franchise left him unprotected and he was selected by the Thrashers in the 1999 Expansion Draft. He split the 1999-00 season between them and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, played a season in the New Jersey Devils organization, and a season in Sweden before calling it quits in 2002. Ward finished with 215 games, 16 goals, 40 points and 284 PIMs as a Flame.
James Patrick, Defense
Our fourth spot belongs to legendary New York Rangers defenseman James Patrick. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native was taken with the ninth-overall pick in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft and spent the next two seasons with the University of North Dakota. In 1983-84 he played with Canada’s national team but got into 12 regular season and five playoff games with the Rangers, scoring 11 points. This was the beginning of a very impressive nine-year stretch where Patrick would accumulate 104 goals and 467 points in 671 games. The 1993-94 campaign saw Patrick move cities two times, as he was traded to the Hartford Whalers in November and then to the Flames in March. This was a massive deal that had Patrick, Michael Nylander, and Zarley Zalapski going to Alberta in exchange for Gary Suter, Paul Ranheim, and Ted Drury.
Patrick finished that campaign with four points in 15 games, followed by one assist in seven playoff games as the Flames were bounced in the first round. In the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season he only mustered 10 assists in 43 games, the lowest total of his career to that point. Patrick bounced back in 1995-96 with three goals and 35 points in 80 games, but the team was swept by the Blackhawks. Injuries hampered Patrick’s next two seasons, as he only skated in a combined 79 contests and mustered nine goals and 21 points in that time. As a free agent in the summer of 1998, he signed with the Buffalo Sabres where he would play the next six seasons. After a year playing in Germany, Patrick retired from playing in 2006. He became an assistant coach with the Sabres and held the role for seven seasons before moving to the Dallas Stars in the same capacity until 2017. Currently, Patrick is head coach of the WHL’s Victoria Royals. As a Flame, Patrick scored 14 goals and 70 points in 217 games.
Paul Kruse, Left Wing
Last but certainly not least is winger Paul Kruse. One of only two NHL players from Merritt, British Columbia, Kruse played junior for the storied Kamloops Blazers franchise in the WHL. The Flames’ brass loved his combination of grit and scoring and selected him 83rd overall in the 1990 draft. After two seasons in the minors, Kruse got his first real taste of the NHL with 16 games in 1991-92. He was able to score three goals, four points and recorded 65 PIMs in that time. His next season was split evenly between the Flames and the minors, but he made the roster full time for the 1993-94 season. Kruse set a career high with 185 PIMs and tallied three goals and 11 points in 68 appearances for the Flames. He settled into an enforcer role, alongside Ronnie Stern and Sandy McCarthy.
The 1994-95 campaign was the best of the winger’s career as he scored a career-high 11 goals and had 16 points in 45 games. Kruse came alive in the playoffs as well, as he had four goals and six points in the Flames’ seven-game first round loss to the San Jose Sharks. After a relatively successful 1995-96 season (three goals, 15 points in 75 games) the Flames shipped him off to the New York Islanders for a third-round pick in 1997. Kruse played for them, the Sabres, the Sharks, in Great Britain, and in Austria before he hung up the skates in 2004. All told, Kruse put up 24 goals, 53 points, and a whopping 614 PIMs in 246 matches for the Flames. His PIM total is still 16th in franchise history.
As with any all-time list, players will have been left out or, ironically, glossed over. Those who donned the flaming ‘c’ in the 1990s don’t tend to receive the same love that the Flames of the 1980s or 2000s get as it was more of a trying time in franchise history. These five players are just a handful of many who sacrificed their bodies each night to entertain the Flames’ faithful, and they and their forgotten counterparts both deserve some recognition.
