Flames All-Time Countdown Chapter LXVIII: 196-193

196. Claude St. Sauveur

St. Sauveur was a 6’, 180 lb. center from St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. Born on January 2nd 1952, he played three seasons in the QMJHL with the Sherbrooke Castors starting in 1969-70 (148 games, 128 goals, 143 assists, 271 PiM). The California Golden Seals selected him in the fourth round of the 1972 NHL Entry Draft with the 54th selection off the board.

In 1972-73, St. Sauveur played most of the season in the EHL with the Roanoke Valley Rebels (62 games, 55 goals, 52 assists, 99 PiM). He also scored a goal in two games for the WHA’s Philadelphia Blazers. He played his first two "non-minor" league seasons following that, with the newly relocated Vancouver Blazers, where he scored 62 goals and 53 assists in 146 games.

Prior to the 1975-76 season, St. Sauveur’s rights were traded from the Golden Seals to the Atlanta Flames for cash. Five players on the team played in every game, and St. Sauveur was one of three to appear in 79 games. He ranked third on the club with 24 goals on 171 shots, 11 of them with the man advantage to lead the Flames. He also dished out a team seventh-best 24 helpers, a minus-6 rating, and 23 penalty minutes.

The following season would see St. Sauveur play with the SHL’s Tidewater Sharks (six games, five goals, seven assists) and the WHA’s Calgary Cowboys (17 games, zero goals, three assists) and Edmonton Oilers (15 games, five goals, seven assists). He would go on to play with the Indianapolis Racers (89 games, 40 goals, 44 assists), the Cincinnati Stingers (16 games, four goals, five assists), and the Milwaukee Admirals (97 games, 72 goals, 85 assists).

All-Time Statline: 79 games, 24 goals, 24 assists, minus-6 rating, 23 penalty minutes, 3.26 point shares.

195. Bob Paradise

Paradise was a 6’1″, 205 lb. defenseman when he began his professional career. Born on April 22nd, 1944 in St. Paul, Minnesota, he got his start with the Muskegon Mohawks in the IHL in the 1966-67 season, scoring five goals and six assists in 42 contests. He later played with the Minnesota Nationals, Team USA, the USHL’ s Rochester Mustangs (eight games, zero goals, two assists, 18 PiM), the CHL’s Omaha Knights (61 games, three goals, 14 assists, 98 PiM), the AHL’s Montreal Voyageurs (72 games, zero goals, nine assists), the Minnesota North Stars (six games, zero points, six PiM), the AHL’s Cleveland Barons (four games), and the Seattle Totems (WHL, 54 games, five goals, eight assists, 80 PiM).

On June 6th, 1972, Paradise was traded from the North Stars to the Atlanta Flames for cash. An original Flame as the inaugural 1972-73 season opened, he appeared in 71 contests for Atlanta, scoring once on 53 shots with seven helpers, a minus-20 rating, and a team second 103 penalty minutes.

1973-74 opened with Paradise still with the Flames. He went scoreless on eight shots over 18 games, with a single assist, a minus-7 rating, and 13 penalty minutes. On January 4th, the Flames traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Chuck Arnason for Al McDonough.

Paradise played parts of five seasons with the Penguins (203 games, seven goals, 33 assists, 209 PiM), also appearing with the Washington Capitals (70 games, zero goals, 13 assists, 62 PiM), the AHL’s Springfield Indians (14 games, zero goals, four assists, 18 PiM), and the AHL’s Binghamton Dusters (16 games, zero goals, one assist, 12 PiM).

All-Time Statline: 89 games, one goal, eight assists, minus-27 rating, 116 penalty minutes, 3.26 point shares.

194. Jamie Hislop

Hislop, born on January 20th, 1954, is a native of Sarnia, Ontario. A 5’10″, 180 lb. right winger, he was selected in both professional level 1974 drafts after his sophomore season with the University of New Hampshire. The Montreal Canadiens took him in the eighth round with the 140th selection, and the Cleveland Crusaders from the WHA took him in the fourth round, 49th overall.

In four seasons of collegiate hockey with the Wildcats, Hislop scored 77 goals with 132 assists in 119 contests before graduating with the Class of 1976. Before appearing with the Flames, he played with the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers (206 games, 61 goals, 102 assists), the SHL’s Hampton Gulls (37 games, 16 goals, 17 assists), and the Quebec Nordiques (130 games, 38 goals, 42 assists). On January 30th, 1981, Quebec traded him to the Flames for Dan Bouchard.

Hislop scored six times on 31 shots, along with nine assists in 29 contests for the Flames in the second half of the 1980-81 season. He finished with a minus-3 rating and 11 penalty minutes.

In 1981-82, Hislop was one of two Flames to play in every game. He had 16 goals on 113 shots with 25 assists, ranking 10th on the club in each category. He also posted a plus-1 rating and spent 35 minutes in quiet contemplation for his sins, oddly enough ranking 10th in each category.

1982-83 would see Hislop play 79 games for the Flames, scoring 14 goals on 80 shots with 19 assists, a minus-5 rating, and 17 penalty minutes. He followed that up with one goal on 18 shots with eight helpers, an even rating, and a single minor penalty in 27 games in 1983-84. On December 1st, he suffered an eye injury in a game against the New York Islanders, which led eventually to his retirement soon afterward.

Hislop caught on as a front office employee for Calgary immediately after retiring. He later got into coaching, serving as an assistant with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles and the parent club in Alberta.

All-Time Statline: 215 games, 37 goals, 61 assists, minus-7 rating, 65 penalty minutes, 3.27 point shares.

193. Bill Flett

Flett, also known as “Cowboy,” was a 6’1″, 205 lb. right winger from Vermillion, Alberta. Born on July 21st, 1943, he played six seasons at various minor league levels through the early through mid-1960s before catching a break when the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams in 1967-68. The Los Angeles Kings acquired him for their first season.

In five seasons with Los Angeles, Flett scored 84 goals with 99 assists and 295 penalty minutes in 323 games. He also played with the Philadelphia Flyers (167 games, 71 goals, 68 assists, 130 PiM) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (77 games, 15 goals, 25 assists, 38 PiM).

Flett was claimed on waivers by the Flames just as the 1975 offseason got underway. He played 78 games for Atlanta, ranking fourth on the club with 23 goals on 171 shots, along with 17 assists, a team second plus-9 rating, and 30 penalty minutes. He hung on with Atlanta for the first third of the 1976-77 season, scoring four goals on 35 shots with four helpers, a plus-1 rating, and six penalty minutes. The Flames traded him to the Edmonton Oilers, still a WHA team at the time, in December, 1976 for cash.

Flett played four seasons with the Oilers, all the way through their move to the NHL. He scored 108 goals and 86 assists in 215 games.

All-Time Statline: 102 games, 27 goals, 21 assists, plus-10 rating, 36 penalty minutes, 3.28 point shares.

by Kevin Kraczkowski