The Sporting News recently pieced together its Top 20 Greatest NHL Teams of all-time, based on single-season performances, and ranked the 1989 Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames in 14th place.
One season after capturing the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy in 1988 with 105 points, the Flames only advanced to the second round that year. In under one year, they bounced back with an even stronger campaign in 1989, with 117 points, repeating as Presidents’ Trophy winners and winning the Stanley Cup.
Featuring a lineup with several future Hall of Famers, including Lanny McDonald, Joe Nieuwendyk, Al MacInnis, Mike Vernon, Joe Mullen, and Doug Gilmour, the Flames collected 117 points, which ranked 11th all-time at the time, among the best single-season performances by a team.
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Only six skaters in the NHL managed to score more than 50 goals, with Mario Lemieux leading the pack with 85, but both Mullen and Nieuwendyk tallied 51, finishing fifth and sixth in that category.
Meanwhile, Mullen was the only Calgary player to surpass 100 points, finishing seventh overall in league scoring with 110 points, behind Paul Coffey (113) and ahead of Jari Kurri (102).
Overall, 14 different skaters reached double digits in goals, with eight collecting more than 20. Moreover, 19 recorded more than ten points, with eight reaching at least 50 points.
Between the pipes, Vernon would finish second in Vezina Trophy voting, thanks to a 37-6-5 record with a .897 SV% and .266 GAA. Outside of winning another Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings, including the Conn Smyth Trophy, Vernon never duplicated the successes he had from the 1988-89 season.
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Despite outstanding performances from so many key players in the lineup, only Mullen won an NHL Award, walking away with the Lady Byng Trophy, while finishing fifth in Hart Trophy voting. Meanwhile, Vernon lost the Vezina Trophy to Patrick Roy in an 87-54 vote.
On their march to the Stanley Cup Final, their second appearance in three seasons after 1986, they defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games, featuring a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory in Game 7. Then they swept a Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings in the Division Finals before eliminating the Chicago Blackhawks in five games. With a Game 2 win at the Saddledome, the Blackhawks ended the Flames’ six-game winning streak.
In the 1989 Stanley Cup Final, a rematch from 1986 against the Montreal Canadiens, the Flames jumped out to a 1-0 series win with a 3-2 win in Game 1. Montreal took Games 2 and 3, including a double overtime win in the latter. Down but not out, the Flames won Game 4 4-2 before a 3-2 win in Game 5. On May 25, 1989, Calgary became the first and only team to celebrate a Stanley Cup victory as a visitor at the Montreal Forum, with a 4-2 win.
MacInnis won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP with 31 points in 22 games, including four game-winners. Meanwhile, Mullen led all playoff scorers with 16 goals, ten at even strength, on a playoff-leading 91 shots.
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As of 2026, the 1988-89 season remains the best in franchise history, not only because it led to the only Stanley Cup title, but because they set records for wins, points, and points percentage. Through 53 seasons, only two other Flames teams have won more than 50 games, including the 2018-19 and 2021-22 squads.
Close to 40 seasons since that magical season, the 111 points the Flames accumulated that year now rank 24th all-time, a confirmation of how special it was to achieve those win and point totals before the mass expansion in the 1990s and 2000s.
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