Theoren Fleury played the part of pint-sized NHL star for a previous generation of Calgary hockey fans, and he was back in the Flames' dressing room Tuesday. Management invited Fleury, Joel Otto and Lanny McDonald to share their memories of the team's 1989 Stanley Cup playoff run, in which Otto's overtime goal in the seventh game of the opening round eliminated the Vancouver Canucks and helped the Flames win the only championship in team history.
Afterward, Fleury confided that he'd offered to play one game for his ex-team – Wednesday's playoff opener – just so he could slash the Canucks' Daniel Sedin and then retire all over again.
He was kidding. We think.
Organizationally, the Flames have not exactly covered themselves in playoff glory since that memorable championship season. On the contrary, they have made it out of the opening round only once since – in 2004, when they defeated the Canucks in seven games and advanced all the way to the final before losing in seven games to Tampa Bay.
See a pattern forming?
Two of Calgary's important postseason runs started with victories over Vancouver, and so, after four additional one-and-done series since 2004 – losing twice in seven games (to Anaheim and San Jose) and twice in six (to Detroit and Chicago) – this is an opportunity to accomplish something that hasn't been achieved in quite some time around here: winning a playoff round.
"They've accomplished one of, if not the biggest, goals that I have had in my life since I was two or three – and that's to win the Stanley Cup," said centre Joe Colborne, who was born and raised in Calgary. Tuesday's visitors, he added, "my heroes growing up. So you get the goosebumps for sure.
"I'm sure there's going to be a whole new crop of kids who idolize Johnny [Gaudreau] and Monny [Sean Monahan], and that was me, as I grew up. Any time those guys are willing to come down and take time out of their day to pump us up a little bit, every single guy in the room really respected that."
Colborne was the centre of attention during Tuesday's practice: He took most of the line rushes with the team's No. 1 line, centring Jiri Hudler and Gaudreau.
After a day off Monday, Monahan practised for roughly five minutes and then left the ice early. He assured all that he was fine and would be ready to play in the opener, even if there are suspicions he was injured in the next-to-last game of the regular season against the Los Angeles Kings, the last time he played.
Gaudreau said that Monahan, as a 20-year-old averaging 19 minutes 37 seconds in ice time a night, highest among the team's forwards, was just "getting some good rest. I haven't talked to him too much, since he hasn't been on the ice. I know he's one of the most important players on our team and logs the most ice team among forwards. He's had a long season, playing 23, 24 minutes a night for 80 games, so I'm sure the rest is probably really good for him."
The day marked the first meeting between Fleury and Gaudreau, this generation's pint-sized star. They share two common traits – their stature and an ability to lift fans out of their seats with their electrifying play.
"He was just saying how excited he was about our season this year and how nice it is to meet each other," revealed Gaudreau, the co-leader in NHL rookie scoring with 64 points, one more than Nathan MacKinnon scored when he was the runaway Calder Memorial Trophy winner a year ago.
Even though he's never played an NHL playoff game, it doesn't mean Gaudreau hasn't played important games before. He won the NCAA championship as a freshman for Boston College in 2012, a year in which he averaged a point a game.
"For me, in the playoffs, you have to learn to relax and play your game the way you always play," Gaudreau said. "Now that's it's the Stanley Cup playoffs, obviously, it's a little ramped up. Not every young kid gets to do something like this, so I'm definitely going to be excited, but I have to make sure to keep my emotions in check and play the way I have all year."
The closest NHL city to Gaudreau's hometown of Salem, N.J., is Philadelphia. He wasn't born the only time Calgary played Philadelphia in the playoffs – in 1981, when the Flames won in seven games, But he said he had many playoff memories involving the Flyers, the most recent being the year they lost in the Stanley Cup final to the Chicago Blackhawks on Patrick Kane's overtime goal.
Yes, Gaudreau's memory dates all the way back to 2010, further proof of just how young this team is.
If the Flames insert rookie centre Sam Bennett into the lineup against the Canucks on opening night, they could have 10 players making NHL playoff debuts – and there are six others on the roster with fewer than 15 games of playoff experience.
Colborne has exactly two on his résumé. He was inserted into the Toronto Maple Leafs' lineup for the sixth and seventh games of the Boston Bruins series in 2013.
Now 25, Colborne was a teenaged Flames fan back in 2004, when Martin Gélinas, currently a Flames assistant coach, scored the winner to eliminate Vancouver.
"I was going nuts in the living room that day," Colborne said. "Just the memories of that Cup run, and the passion we had as fans, were incredible. Hopefully, we can inspire people again."