Calgary Flames 9 days until the season starts: #9 Lanny McDonald
By Ramina Shlah
The regular season officially starts next week! With nine days left, let’s take a look at a pretty notable former Calgary Flames player.
Since the start of August, we’re counting down the number of days left until the regular season starts up again! Every day until the start of the season, we’ll be talking about a Calgary Flames player whose number correlates with how many days there are left.
Yesterday, we talked about a player who actually played with the team at the same time the player we’re talking about today did. Yesterday was on #10 Gary Roberts.
Today, with just nine days left until the season starts, let’s look at one of the best players in franchise history and someone in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Let’s look at #9 Lanny McDonald.
Related Story: 10 days until the season starts: #10 Gary Roberts
Who is Lanny McDonald?
Name: Lanny King McDonald (Fun fact: he shared a love of hockey with his dad and his middle name comes from King Clancy)
Birthplace: Hanna, AB, Canada
Position: RW
Shoots: Right
Birthdate: 1953-02-16
Height: 6’0” / 183 cm
Weight: 84 kg / 185 lbs
Drafted by: Toronto Maple Leafs, 4th overall 1973
Stats with all NHL teams, regular season:
Coming off an extremely strong season with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WCHL (at the time, now just the WHL) in 1972-73, right before he was drafted, he caught the eyes of scouts everywhere. In the season right before being drafted, he had 62 goals and 139 points in 68 regular season games. He also had 18 goals and 37 points in 17 playoff games.
At the draft, he was almost drafted by the Vancouver Canucks at the third overall pick, but made it clear he did not want to play with Vancouver (yikes, but same). So he fell to the fourth pick and was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He played the following season in 1973-74, but his season was cut somewhat short because he got a concussion and required stitches very early on in the season (at that time, NHL players didn’t require helmets). Because of this injury, he struggled early in his career.
Calgary Flames
In his first year with the Leafs, he had just 14 goals and 36 points in 70 regular season games. The following year in 1974-75 was better, but still not what the Leafs were hoping for from Lanny. He had17 goals and 44 points in 64 regular season games. In seven playoff games that year, he had no points.
Notable GM of the Atlanta Flames and Hockey Hall of Famer, Cliff Fletcher, wanted to take advantage of the Leafs losing faith in Lanny and requested a trade (I think this is the DEFINITION of foreshadowing). It was almost a done deal before Lanny went and scored three goals in two games, making the Leafs back out of the trade. And good thing they did.
The following season, Lanny put up 37 goals and 93 points in 75 games. A major improvement would be an understatement. He also had four goals and four assists in ten playoff games that year. Because of this impressive season, he got to play for Team Canada at the Canada Cup in 1976. He had two assists in five games and the Canadians were the champions that year. Another fun fact: his second assist was the assist on the championship winner.
As you can see from the stats above, Lanny continued to excel and had successful seasons. So you may be wondering why he was randomly traded to the Colorado Rockies (now known as the New Jersey Devils) in the 1979-80 season. Well, a new boss came to town with GM Punch Imlach. Imlach and good friend of Lanny, Darryl Sittler, didn’t get along one bit. He wanted to have Sittler traded, but Sittler refused. So in order to get back at him, Imlach decided to trade his friends whom he was closest with on the team. That included Lanny McDonald. So away to Colorado he would go.
And outraged were the fans.
Lanny McDonald was a fan favourite (and how could he not be). He came out and said that Imlach did this out of spite and not to better the team. Fans basically rioted in Toronto and it was this whole fiasco. Mcdonald was unhappy with the trade, but his points were still quite good with the Rockies, despite everything that happened.
Mcdonald didn’t spend long in Colorado. A year after the Atlanta Flames relocated to Calgary, Cliff Fletcher still had his eye on Lanny – seven years later. So early on in the 1981-82 season, Lanny was traded back to his home province. At first, he wasn’t happy about it, but Lanny put up 34 goals and 67 points in 55 games with the Calgary Flames that year. Safe to say that he and his moustache were immediately a fan-favourite.
He constantly battled with an arch-nemesis: Wayne Gretzky. They constantly battled each other for who can score the most amount of goals. Keep in mind – this is around the time where both the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers were actually good at the same time. So the Battle of Alberta was VERY prominent. It’s not like you see it today. These players basically hated each other.
In his first full year with the Calgary Flames in 1982-83, he won the Bill Masterton Trophy for his dedication and perseverance to the game of hockey. The following off-season, him and Doug Risebrough (foreshadowing for who we’re talking about tomorrow with eight days left…) were named co-captains.
Throughout the next few years, injuries got the best of Mcdonald and he was starting to think his time was up. So in the 1985-86 season, he decided that if he could play 80 games, he would stay in the NHL for a few more years. And he played 80 games.
Related Story: Throwback Thursday - Steve Smith Own Goal in Game 7
In the playoffs that year, this was a memorable moment. In the Smythe Division finals against the Edmonton Oilers, it was a tie game in game 7 with about 14 minutes left of the game. Lanny McDonald was right beside Oilers rookie Steve Smith behind the net when Steve Smith accidentally scores on his own net. This was the game winner and the Calgary Flames went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals – for the first time in franchise history.
The next few years again, injuries would get the best of him. But in 1987-88, he won the award he was named after: the King Clancy Trophy, for his leadership and humanitarian contributions.In
In 1988, before the season started, at 36 years old, Lanny was thinking this may be his last year. And boy what a hell of a last year.
The Calgary Flames won the President’s Trophy and went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. You probably know how this story goes, but this is the first time (and the only time so far) that they won the Stanley Cup! In game 6 against the Montreal Canadiens, the Flames won 4-2 and became the first team to ever win a cup at the Montreal Forum – besides the Canadiens of course.
Lanny initially made the score 2-1 and they stayed leading for the rest of the game.
What always gets me emotional is that “You’ve done it, Lanny! You’ve done it!” you always hear in the commercials during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And in case you wanted to cry, here you go:
That goal ended up being the last of his career since he retired after this season.
In 1990, the Flames decided to give him the great honour of having his number retired by the franchise. He became the first player in franchise history to have his number retired and stands as one of only two players.
In 1992, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, in 1993, he was also inducted into Alberta’s Sports Hall of Fame and just this past year, he was also inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Lanny is also known for various charitable donations he makes and for his involvement with the Special Olympics.
This past year, Lanny McDonald also played in the Centennial Classic Alumni game – at the age of 63 years old. And he uh… didn’t want the Detroit Red Wings to have their moment…
Yes, that’s him photobombing them and sliding across the ice.
Next: Throwback Thursday - Winning the Cup in 1989
His career didn’t start off the great and he had some bumps in the road along the way. But you’ve still done it, Lanny. You’ve done it.