Al MacInnis

A profile of the defenceman who held the loudest slap shot in NHL history, won the 1989 Conn Smythe as the playoff MVP of the only Calgary Stanley Cup, and held the Saddledome blue line for thirteen seasons before being lost in free agency.

If you grew up in Calgary in the 1980s and you picked up a hockey stick, you tried to imitate Al MacInnis. The wide stance, the long backswing, the contact point so far back that the stick almost dragged on the ice, the puck that left the blade like a bullet. Most kids who tried it broke their stick on the second swing. MacInnis did it forty times a night, in stride, off the rush, on the power play, with no warning. The Saddledome heard a slap shot that hit the boards harder than anyone else on the planet, and it heard it for thirteen years.

The shot

Al MacInnis won the NHL All-Star Hardest Shot competition seven times. Officially. He was clocked above 100 mph in the early 1990s, before the league formalized the radar guns. Goalies of that era have spent the rest of their careers describing the sound of MacInnis's shots hitting their pads or, more often, the boards behind their nets. The Saddledome's right point was his office.

The mechanics were unique. MacInnis used a longer, heavier wooden stick than most defencemen. He took a longer backswing than the rules technically encouraged. The blade contact happened well behind his body, not in front. The shot did not go where you expected it to go because his entire windup was nonstandard. Goalies couldn't read his release.

The 1989 Cup, the Conn Smythe

The 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs were a coronation for MacInnis. He had 7 goals and 24 assists in 22 playoff games, 31 points, leading all playoff scorers. He was the first defenceman to lead the playoff scoring race outright, and the second defenceman ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The Cup-winning Game 6 in Montreal had MacInnis as the offensive engine on the Flames blue line, with Mike Vernon in goal, Joe Nieuwendyk at centre, and Lanny McDonald writing the storybook ending. (For the full story of that Cup run, see the 1989 Stanley Cup page.)

MacInnis was 25. The Conn Smythe was the franchise's first major individual postseason award and is still the only Conn Smythe in Flames history.

The Saddledome blue line, 1981 to 1994

MacInnis joined the Flames as a 19-year-old in 1981-82, a year before the Saddledome opened. He started the 1983-84 season as the building's first regular blue-line presence. He played 13 seasons with the Flames. His point totals, on a defenceman's nominal scale:

• 1988-89: 16 goals, 58 assists, 74 points (Cup year)
• 1989-90: 28 goals, 62 assists, 90 points (career high)
• 1990-91: 28 goals, 75 assists, 103 points
• 1991-92: 20 goals, 57 assists, 77 points
• 1992-93: 11 goals, 43 assists, 54 points
• 1993-94: 28 goals, 54 assists, 82 points (his last Calgary year)

He was a six-time NHL All-Star as a Flame. He was top-five in Norris Trophy voting in multiple years. The Saddledome point was his territory and the league knew it.

The trade and free agency to St. Louis

In July 1994, the Flames traded MacInnis to the St. Louis Blues for Phil Housley and other considerations. The trade closed a window: Mike Vernon had been dealt the same offseason, Doug Gilmour had been gone for two years, and the Cup-era Flames roster was effectively over.

In St. Louis, MacInnis won his only Norris Trophy in 1999 (he was a finalist in seven other seasons). He played another decade for the Blues before retiring in 2005 due to injuries. The Blues retired his number 2 in 2006.

The Calgary Flames have not formally retired MacInnis's number 2, though it is part of the Forever a Flame ring at the Saddledome. The number is also retired by the Blues, which complicates a Flames retirement ceremony, but the franchise has discussed honoring him further during the Scotia Place transition.

The Saddledome era

If you watched the Flames between 1983 and 1994, MacInnis was the centerpiece of every offensive zone setup. The power play was structured around his shot. Penalty kills depended on him reading rushes a step earlier than anyone else. He played 26 to 28 minutes a game. He blocked shots, killed penalties, set up Hakan Loob, fed Joe Nieuwendyk in the slot, and unloaded slap shots from the right point that goalies remember three decades later.

Hall of Fame

Al MacInnis was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. His Hall of Fame portrait shows him wearing a Calgary Flames jersey, despite his Norris coming with St. Louis. The Calgary years were his identity.

Saddledome connections

For more on the era MacInnis played in, see the 1989 Stanley Cup page, the Lanny McDonald page, the Joe Nieuwendyk page, the Mike Vernon page, the Doug Gilmour page, and the Jarome Iginla page.