They are a part of the Western Conference and play in the Northwest Division.

The Atlanta Flames

In 1971, the NHL granted a franchise to Long Island in order to keep the New York Raiders of the World Hockey Association out of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. They needed another team to balance the league and so granted a franchise to Atlanta. The Atlanta Flames did very well in their initial years, making the playoffs in six out of eight seasons. They were not able to get past the playoffs though. The owner Tom Cousins faced some financial difficulties in 1980 and sold the team to a Calgary based group headed by Nelson Skalbania. The new owner moved the team to the city but retained the nickname Flames, being the only relocated NHL team to retain its original nickname.

The Flames

The team enjoyed success almost immediately. They made the playoffs in their first season and lost to the Minnesota North Stars in the semifinals. Surprisingly, the team had a losing record in the very next season. The Flames then acquired new players like Gary Suter, Joel Otto, Colin Patterson and Hakan Loob. The team improved to a great extent after that. They had successful years in the mid 1980’s and 1990’s.

In 1986, the Flames went through the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and the St. Louis Blues before falling to the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Flames faced the Canadiens in the Finals again in 1989. This time the Flames defeated the Canadiens to lift their first and only Stanley Cup till date. This year also marked the beginning of players from the Soviet Union being signed into NHL teams. Sergei Pryakhin was the first such player to join the Flames.

The next few years were not very successful as they missed the playoffs in 1992 which was the first time since 1975. But they made it back for the next three seasons and even won the division championships in two. In 2004, the Flames reached the Stanley Cup Finals again, being the first Canadian team in ten years to do so. They lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Flames have retired two jersey numbers, Lanny McDonald 9 and Mike Vernon 30. McDonald has also been inducted in the Hall of Fame along with Joe Mullen and Grant Fuhr. The captain of the current team is Jarome Iginla and the head coach is Mike Keenan. The team colors are red, white, black and gold.