On Thursday, the Calgary Flames take on the Minnesota Wild.

Of the 32 teams in the National Hockey League, the Wild are the team that I most often forget exists. In their 26 seasons of existence, they’ve won just four playoff rounds, two of which came in just their third season of existence. They didn’t win a game in the 2003 Western Conference Final.

The Wild are consistently in the playoffs, making 11 of the last 13 postseasons, but they haven’t won a round since 2014-15, and haven’t won a game in the second round since 2013-14. In terms of transactions, their most notable transactions came in the summer of 2012, signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

Both players were bought out, and the Wild still have a portion of their cap dedicated to the two players, but at least it’s not $14.7 million like it had been after the buyouts until the end of the 2024-25 season.

They’ve made a few notable trades in their franchise history, such as trading Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings for the pick that would become Brock Faber. Since their inception, the Wild have made just three trades with the Calgary Flames, all of which involved a goaltender.

In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we’ll look at those three trades.

The three trades with the Wild

Mike Vernon was born in Calgary, played his junior hockey with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers, and was drafted 56th overall by the Flames in 1981. Vernon had a cup of tea over his first four professional seasons, including 18 games in the 1985-86 regular season. The netminder played 21 games in the post-season, helping the Flames to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Finally, Vernon became a full-time NHL player the following season, playing 55 games with an .883 save percentage and 3.62 goals against average in 1986-87. Veron had a terrific 1998-89 season, finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting as the Flames went on to win it all.

Over the course of his first 11 seasons with the Flames, Vernon had an .882 save percentage and 3.29 goals against average in 468 games. On Jun. 29, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Steve Chiasson, where he went on to lead another team to a Stanley Cup, winning the Conn Smythe in 1997.

Vernon was traded to the San Jose Sharks, then the Florida Panthers. In the 2000 expansion draft, the Wild selected him, but promptly traded him back to the Flames on Jun. 23, 2000. The netminder played two more seasons with the Flames in 2000-01 and 2001-02, posting an .887 save percentage and 3.11 goals against average in his late 30s, retiring at the end of the 2001-02 season. 

His #30 was retired in 2007, and Vernon was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2023. It’s nice that he was able to return to the city where it all started.

Jamie McLennan had two stints with the Flames as well. Drafted 48th overall by the New York Islanders in 1991, the Edmonton, Alberta native never played more than 38 games in a single season. Those 38 games came with the Wild in 2000-01, where he had a .905 save percentage. 

One day before the second anniversary of the Vernon trade, the Flames sent a 2002 ninth-round pick to the Wild in exchange for McLennan. Before being traded to the Flames, McLennan had an .897 save percentage and 2.62 goals against average in 176 games.

In his first season following the trade, McLennan played 22 games as Roman Turek’s backup, authoring an .892 save percentage and 2.99 save percentage in 22 games played. McLennan played an additional 26 games with the Flames in 2003-04, but by this point, the crease belonged to Miikka Kiprusoff, the first franchise netminder the Flames had had since Vernon.

McLennan was traded before the 2004 trade deadline, played four games with the New York Rangers, then played for the Guilford Flames during the lockout. Once that ended, McLennan played 17 games with the Panthers in 2005-06, then signed with the Flames for the 2006-07 season, playing nine games. In his final NHL game during the 2007 postseason, McLennan attempted to start a line brawl.

Kiprusoff retired after the 2012-13 season, leaving the Flames in search of their next franchise netminder. They eventually found that goalie in Dustin Wolf, but between 2013-14 and 2022-23, the Flames used 17 different netminders before Wolf made his debut. One of those netminders was Niklas Bäckström.

Not to be confused with the centre who played alongside Alexander Ovechkin with the Washington Capitals, Bäckström put together some strong seasons in the Twin Cities, finishing third in Vezina Trophy voting in 2009-10, and even winning the Jennings trophy in his rookie season in 2006-07.

On Feb. 29, 2016, the Flames traded David Jones to the Wild for Bäckström and a 2016 sixth. By the time he arrived in Calgary, the Finnish netminder was 37 years old and played just four games, where he had an .881 save percentage and 3.35 goals against average. Bäckström returned to Finland the following season and played three more years before retiring after the 2018-19 season. He currently serves as the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Goaltending coach.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS