Flames Best #33 Of All Time: Carey Wilson

You probably still have the image of current Flames goalie David Rittich tossing his stick in the air after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in a shootout, so it would be OK if you associate him with the #33. It’s reasonable. But the real best #33 in Flames history played during Calgary’s first Stanley Cup Finals team years and was a very productive centre for the Flames.

Carey Wilson was originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth round of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, but was traded to Calgary for Denis Cyr in 1982. Wilson wouldn’t get to Calgary right away as he would play two seasons with HIFK Helsinki before making the jump to the NHL in 1983-84.

Photo by Graig Abel/Getty Images

In his first taste on the NHL, Wilson would play in only 15 games, but would put up a respectable seven points, even scoring on his first ever NHL shot. Starting in 1984-85 Wilson would have three straight seasons of 70+ games played and 50+ points with his 1984-85 campaign being his best with Calgary. During that season he would play in 74 games, score 24 goals and dish out 48 assists on his way to finishing 5th in the Calder Memorial Trophy voting as a rookie. The 48 helpers from that season would end up being a career high for Wilson.

During Calgary’s Stanley Cup Finals season in 1985-86 Carey Wilson would play in a career high 80 regular season games and score a career high 29 goals. Despite that very solid regular season, Wilson would only play in six playoff games that year and never see the ice during the Flames 4-1 series loss to Montreal in the Finals.

Wilson would play 34 games with the Flames the following season, tallying up 30 points before being dealt to the Hartford Whalers where he would play for two more seasons. After that the Rangers would take a chance on Wilson for two years before he was dealt back to Hartford and then traded back to Calgary to finish his NHL career.

In his final two seasons with the Flames Wilson would play in 64 games total and collect 34 points in that time frame. Injuries would hamper both of those years and he would retire after the 1992-93 season. When he was finished playing hockey, Wilson would have played in 355 games with the Flames over two different campaigns and eight total seasons. He would end up scoring 102 goals and handing out 161 assists over that time frame. Wilson would also play in the most playoff games of his career (32) during his time with the Flames and have 12 points in those games to show for his efforts. During the 1987-88 season (split between Calgary & Hartford) he would finish second in the NHL in GWG with nine.

Carey Wilson has been busy in his post hockey life running the Carey Wilson Development Program, various hockey schools and has a pre-med degree from Dartmouth College. His son Colin plays for the Colorado Avalanche.

Other Players Having Worn #33 In Flames History

Rich Chernomaz (1998), Marc Bureau (1990-91), David Struch (1994), Zarley Zalapski (1994-98), Lee Sorochan (1999), Greg Pankewicz (1999), Brad Werenka (2000), Steve Begin (2000), Jamie Allison (2002), Jamie MacLennan (2003), Kyzrsztof Oliwa (2004), Brain Boucher (2006), Adrian Aucoin (2008-09), Brandon Prust (2010), Anton Babchuk (2011-13), Raphael Diaz (2015), Jakub Nakladal (2016), David Rittich (2017-20)

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