Over the next few weeks leading up to the 2024–25 season, I’ll be taking a look at the best and worst of the Calgary Flames throughout history. First up, the head coaches.
With a long history and carousel of head coaches over the years, the Flames have had a plethora of names behind the bench. Just in the past five years alone, they’ve seen three coaches take on the role. Throughout their entire history, they’ve had a total of 22 bench bosses—some good and some very, very bad.
Who is the best head coach in Calgary Flames history? Who is the worst? Let’s break it down with a couple of names for each category.
The worst coaches in Flames history
Greg Gilbert
Regular Season Record (121) 42–56–17–4 (.442 Win%)
Playoff Record – N/A
Starting off with the worst, Greg Gilbert is a pretty easy selection. Pretty much nothing went right with Gilbert behind the bench, and the team actually suffered long-term because of his tenure. To refresh your memory, Gilbert was named head coach during the 2000–01 season to replace Don Hay who was fired 68 games into the season. In his first taste of action behind the bench, Gilbert led the Flames to a 4–8–2 record and the team missed the playoffs.
The following year in 2001–02 and his first full season as head coach, the Flames once again missed the playoffs thanks to a very average 32–25–12–3 record. The next year in 2002–03 Gilbert and the Flames started the year with a terrible 6–13–3–3 record and Gilbert was fired 25 games into the season. All in all, he failed to deliver a single season of over .500 hockey in Calgary during his three years with the team.
His biggest impact however came from his relationship with Marc Savard. Gilbert regularly clashed off the ice with Savard which led to a diminished role in the lineup for the talented centre despite clearly being the team’s best option down the middle with Jarome Iginla. Savard eventually requested a trade out of Calgary because of this and we all know what happened next.
At the end of the day, Gilbert never led the Flames to any success on the ice and drove away one of the most talented centres the organization had seen in years. The worst part is the Flames sided with their coach and traded Savard, only to then fire Gilbert a month later anyway. Gilbert will continue to hold the title of worst coach in team history for the considerable future.
Geoff Ward
Regular Season Record – (66) 35–26–5 (.568 Win%)
Playoff Record – (10) 5–5 (.500 Win%)
I couldn’t possibly write a worst head coaches list without mentioning everyone’s best friend Geoff Ward. Ward was just so mediocre across the board that it’s almost funny. It’s not like the Flames were terrible on paper with him behind the bench, the problem was he completely neutered what should’ve been a great Flames team with his completely directionless coaching style.
When he first came on board midway through the 2019–20 season, the Flames had a star-studded roster that contained the likes of Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, and Sean Monahan all in their 20s, as well as a Norris winner in Mark Giordano. They had also won the Pacific Division the year prior to Ward’s arrival.
After a 2018–19 season in which the Flames dominated with speed and skill, Ward decided to take things in a completely different direction and focus on defence first. This completely blew up in his face almost immediately. The problem of course became that the Flames were not only below-average on defence despite his supposed defensive system, they also had absolutely nothing to offer on offence either because his system had no structure to speak of.
In his first season, he led the team to a 24–15–3 record and barely snuck into the playoffs due to the season ending early due to COVID-19, where the team was hanging on to a playoff spot in the standings. In the playoffs, the Flames were bounced in the first round due to a historic collapse in Game 6. In an all-time blunder during the Game 6 collapse, he pulled the team’s playoff MVP in Cam Talbot with the game tied, put in David Rittich who hadn’t played in almost two months, and then put Talbot back into the game later on.
The following year Ward would lead the Flames to an embarrassing 11–11–2 record in the woeful North Division, regularly being blown out by bottom feeder teams. Just 24 games into the season he was let go and was done in Calgary less than two years after being hired. It’s fair to say that the Ward-led Flames played some of the most boring, directionless, and frustrating hockey of any team in Flames history and wasted two years of a very talented core. But hey, at least he played music in practice right?
The best
Darryl Sutter
Regular Season Record (404) 210–136–15–43 (.592 Win%)
Playoff Record – (45) 23–22 (.511 Win%)
Despite the disastrous ending to both of his tenures in Calgary, Darryl Sutter is undoubtedly one of the best head coaches in Calgary Flames history. First of all, no coach in team history has served more games behind the bench than Sutter and his 404 games or won more regular season games with 210. As well, his .592 regular season winning percentage with the team is the second highest in team history and his 23 playoff wins also rank second.
Sutter had two defining seasons in Calgary, each in different tenures with the team. His crowning achievement with the team came in his second season in Calgary all the way back in 2003–04. Sutter would guide the ragtag Flames to a respectable 42–30–7 record and sixth in the Western Conference for their first playoff appearance in eight years. He honestly revived the entire franchise with his arrival and work during the 2003–04 season after the darkest era in team history during the late 90s and early 2000s.
In the playoffs, the team went on a Cinderella run for the ages, going from sixth in the Western Conference to one goal away from winning the Stanley Cup. It was then and remains the team’s first and only appearance in the Cup final since 1989. Sutter’s hard-working, gritty style worked wonders with the Flames’ average roster, as he turned the team into a playoff nightmare to deal with.
Following the legendary run, Sutter would guide the Flames to third in the Western Conference in 2005–06 with 46 wins which at the time was tied for the most by the Flames since their championship-winning 1988–89 season. Unfortunately, the team was upset in the first round that year. He would resign as head coach following the season.
After 14 years away from the Flames bench, Sutter triumphantly returned to the head coaching role in 2020–21 to save the organization from Ward as time was running out for the current core. The Flames would immediately go from one of the worst underlying teams in the league to one of the best under Sutter. Just like his first tenure, it was his first full season behind the bench where he worked his magic.
The 2021–22 season with Sutter remains the second-best regular season in franchise history with a 50–21–11 record and 111 points. The Flames were a juggernaut that season, possessing two 100-point players, three 40-goal scorers, and a Vezina candidate goaltending performance. Sutter was the first coach to put Gaudreau and Tkachuk together and along with Lindholm, the trio formed one of the greatest lines in NHL history at even strength thanks to Sutter’s system and coaching.
The Flames would make the second round for the first time in seven years before eventually losing in the second round. The following year, things took a turn for the worse after a gigantic roster turnover and Sutter was fired in the summer of 2024. One can’t help but wonder how Sutter’s second tenure would’ve ended had the 2021–22 roster stayed together for another season. Regardless, he’s delivered two of the greatest seasons in franchise history and deserves the title of best coach in team history.
Bob Johnson
Regular Season Record (400) 193-155-52 (.548 Win%)
Playoff Record – (52) 25-27 (.481 Win%)
Bob Johnson may not have been the head coach of the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning team, but he was the architect. Johnson ranks second all-time in team history for games coached behind only Sutter, and most importantly ranks first for playoff wins with 25. Johnson was the second head coach in Calgary Flames history and was asked to turn the franchise into a true Stanley Cup contender, something they had never been before. If it wasn’t for the Gretzky-led Oilers of the 80s, Johnson likely would’ve delivered the organization even more success than he did.
Johnson would guide the team to five playoff series wins across five years, and delivered the first Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history in 1985–86. With Johnson behind the bench for five seasons, the Flames would lose in the first round of the playoffs twice, the second round twice, and the Stanley Cup Finals once.
No coach in team history has ever delivered as much playoff success over a five-year period as Johnson or delivered such consistency. The Flames were considered a threat each year he was behind the bench, which has been a rarity in Calgary across their 44-year history—even during Sutter’s tenures. Johnson truly turned the Flames into a contender and one of the most consistent teams in the league.
With Johnson leading the charge, the Flames finished second in their division in four of five seasons and won at least 40 games three times. He’s also the only head coach in team history to guide the Flames into the second round three times, and he did it in only five seasons.
Johnson would leave the Flames in 1987 to take on a major role with USA Hockey despite his success in Calgary. Two years later the Flames were Stanley Cup champions. Johnson may not have been the one behind the bench when the team lifted the Cup in 1989, but without his work in the 80s guiding the Flames from pretender to contender, there is no 1989 Cup win at all.
All-time bench bosses
Every team has their fair share of some truly great and truly bad coaches throughout the years. The Flames, however, had the lucky (or unlucky) privilege of transitioning from the disastrous Ward tenure right to Sutter’s magic season.
Coaches make or break teams and the Flames have had some all-time examples of both outcomes.
