The Calgary Flames have had their fair share of American-born players suit up over the course of the franchise’s history. Along with that has come a number of stars, whether they found that stardom in Calgary or elsewhere during their NHL careers.

If the Flames were to hold their own best-on-best tournament — with every player from their history represented at their prime — what would that team look like? After looking at all U.S.-born Flames, their statistics and other reasonable factors, this is the lineup I came up with.

ForwardsJohnny Gaudreau – Chris Drury – Brett Hull
Matthew Tkachuk – Joel Otto – Joe Mullen
Marty McInnis – Craig Conroy – Tony Amonte
Blake Coleman – Paul Ranheim – Lee Stempniak

Bench: Chris Higgins, Bob Sweeney

Defence

Phil Housley – Gary Suter
Noah Hanifin – Jordan Leopold
Richie Dunn – Derek Forbort

Bench: Jordan Oesterle, Chris Dahlquist

Goaltenders

Brian Boucher – Dustin Wolf – Devin Cooley

Forwards

How fun would it be to watch Johnny Gaudreau play alongside Brett Hull? That top line would be lethal. While the overall roster lacks a true elite centre, just about anyone could succeed between those two, and Drury is more than capable of handling that role.

It also helps to have another 1,000-point scorer in Joe Mullen on the second line alongside Tkachuk. Otto, while known primarily as a defensive centre, is the next-best option down the middle. He would add balance to the line and take on additional responsibility when Tkachuk inevitably creates chaos away from the puck.

Flames general manager Craig Conroy laces up the skates once again to centre the third line, which includes 900-point scorer Tony Amonte and should be capable of producing offence. Conroy was a reliable two-way forward and, like Otto on the second line, would need to shoulder much of the defensive responsibility.

The fourth line is a bit of a mix-and-match group. Current Flame Blake Coleman earns his place on this roster, and alongside Stempniak and Ranheim, this trio may not feature prolific stars, but they all share one key trait: consistency.

Mike Eaves, Chris Clark and David Moss all enjoyed solid NHL careers but just missed the cut.

Defence

For whatever reason, there have been very few right-shot American defencemen to play for the Flames. As a result, this group is made up entirely of left shots, meaning some players would have to play on their off side.

That concern hardly matters on the top pairing. It doesn’t get much better than Housley and Suter together, and that duo would be a nightmare to play against. Don’t count on scoring many goals, as they could probably outscore most forward lines.

Beyond the first pair, things level off a bit. A Hanifin–Leopold pairing would be steady and reliable, though not particularly dynamic.

The third pairing looks much like that of a typical NHL roster. More depth and size over the elite skill you’d hope to have on a national team. Either player on the bench could step in, but it wouldn’t significantly change the overall look of the group.

There also aren’t many additional options who would dramatically alter the makeup of this defence. Chris Butler and Neil Sheehy were the first players left off the list.

Goaltending

A few familiar names round out the goaltending, with the Flames’ current tandem of Wolf and Cooley making the roster. The starting position is largely up for debate. Wolf could certainly take that role, but in this case Boucher gets the nod due to his experience, as their career numbers are fairly comparable.

In the third string role, Cooley might not have as much experience as the other potential options in Jon Gilles and Philippe Sauve, but if were evaluating each player at their best, Cooley is playing some pretty darn good hockey these days which earns him a spot on this team.

Overall, this team wouldn’t have to worry much about offence. With elite scorers across the top three lines and depth throughout the lineup, goals wouldn’t be hard to come by. Defensively, the group would rely heavily on its top pairing and might need to sort out the rest, but it should be more than serviceable.

This would be a team to reckon with.

How would you set this lineup? Is there a player you’d prefer over someone included here? Let us know how you’d build this team in the comments.

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