Calgary Flames: Three former players make Team Canada Olympic roster
By Ramina Shlah
The roster for Team Canada for the 2018 Olympics has been announced this morning. Three former Calgary Flames players have been named.
In a non-NHL Olympics, some players are getting to live their life-long dreams that they otherwise would most likely never make the Olympic Team. Team Canada was announced this morning and three former Calgary Flames players were named: Rene Bourque, Mason Raymond, and Linden Vey.
We’ll be giving a brief history on these players to see how they ended up here. Out of these three, Bourque had the longest career, so we’ll start with him.
Rene Bourque
After going undrafted, Bourque went and played in the NCAA. After graduating, he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent. In his rookie season in 2005-06, he scored 16 goals and 34 points in 77 games. He was signed to a two-year contract extension following a successful rookie year.
He was plagued with injuries the following two seasons and he wasn’t able to play a full season in those two years. In 2008, he was traded to the Calgary Flames (yay!). His most successful NHL season came in 2009-10 when he scored 27 goals and 58 points. He finished second on the Flames in points that year, after Jarome Iginla.
In 2011-12, he struggled offensively to start the season and then suffered two different suspensions within a month apart. He was then traded to the Montreal Canadiens in January along with prospect Patrick Holland and a second-round pick, and that was the trade that brought over Michael Cammalleri and Karri Ramo, along with a fifth-round pick.
Bourque went on to play for three different teams after that, with his final season being played with the Colorado Avalanche in 2016-17. He finished with 18 points in 65 games. During the off-season, he went to Sweden and is playing in the SHL.
He finished his NHL career with 316 points in 725 games.
Mason Raymond
In 2005, Mason Raymond was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the second-round. He was actually eligible in 2004, but was quite low-ranked in that draft and opted out. He made his NHL debut in 2007 and was put on the top line alongside the Sedins and picked up his first NHL point in the season opener.
Calgary Flames
In the month of October, he was sent down twice and recalled once, so it was quite the month for him. In December, he was recalled again, then sent back down in January, and then recalled again where he stayed up. Until he got injured and missed the final eight games of the season. He had quite the whirlwind of a rookie year. He still managed to put up 21 points in 49 games.
Raymond played with the Canucks for six seasons and had his career-high year in goals and points in 2009-10, where he scored 25 goals and 53 points in 82 games. He also came close to winning a Cup with the Canucks in 2011, where they went to game 7 vs. the Boston Bruins.
In 2013, he signed a PTO with the Toronto Maple Leafs followed by a one-year contract. He put up 45 points in 82 games, but one year was enough for them. So he signed a three-year contract with the Calgary Flames in 2014.
Actually, ironically enough, the Flames signed him because they needed a veteran forward after Cammalleri left, so this is coming full circle with Bourque. But he wasn’t contributing as much as they would have liked, and he was placed on waivers during the 2015-16 season, cleared, then sent down to Stockton. He appeared in 29 games that season with the Flames and had just five points.
At the end of the season, he was placed bought out by the Flames and consequently, Raymond signed a one-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks. He played in four scoreless games and was sent down to the AHL again. At the end of that season, signed a one-year contract with SC Bern of the NL.
Raymond finished his NHL career with 251 points in 546 games. He’s only 32 years old, so he could still potentially make a comeback in the NHL.
Linden Vey
Linden Vey had the shortest NHL career out of these three. He was drafted in 2009 by the LA Kings in the fourth round. He was playing in the WHL at the time and continued with them. Playing with the Medicine Hat Tigers, he put up 116 points in 69 games in 2010-11. He then started playing with the Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs.
He played in just 18 games with the Kings in 2013-14, had just five assists, and played the majority of the season in the AHL. At the end of the season in 2014, he was traded to the Canucks for a second-round draft pick. He played a full season with the Canucks in 2014-15, putting up 24 points in 75 games.
The Canucks placed him on waivers at the start of the 2015 season, which he cleared, and was sent back down to the AHL. He still played with the Canucks for 41 games putting up 15 points. In 2016, he signed a two-way deal with the Calgary Flames. He played in just four games with the Flames that season, going scoreless. The majority of his season was spent in Stockton where he posted 55 points in 61 games.
He then signed a one-year deal with the Barys Astana of the KHL at the start of 2017-18 season. He has 52 points in 50 games so far this season with them.
Vey finished with 44 points in 138 NHL games. But he’s only 26, he could potentially make a comeback.
Next: Johnny Gaudreau heading to All-Star game
Those are the three former Flames playing at the NHL-less Olympics this year! Defenseman with the Stockton Heat, Cody Goloubef, has also been named to Team Canada.