2003–04 Calgary Flames season
NHL team season
The 2003–04 Calgary Flames season was the 24th National Hockey League (NHL) season in Calgary, and the 32nd for the franchise in the NHL. The Flames ended a seven-year playoff drought, qualifying for the post-season for the first time since 1996. The Flames defeated three division winners en route to an appearance in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. The Flames were defeated in the finals by the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games. The run to the finals captured the imagination of the city, while the Red Mile celebrations gained international attention for the "Mardi Gras-like" atmosphere as up to 80,000 people celebrated in the streets after each playoff game.
Head coach Darryl Sutter succeeded Craig Button as the Flames' general manager. Sutter made numerous changes to the roster as he worked to remake the Flames into a fast, physical club. Chris Drury was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres for Rhett Warrener and Steve Reinprecht before the season began. A knee injury to starting goaltender Roman Turek led Sutter to trade for Miikka Kiprusoff, a player he knew from his days with the San Jose Sharks. Kiprusoff responded to the deal by posting an NHL record low goals against average of 1.69.
The Flames were led offensively by Jarome Iginla, who tied Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash for the league lead with 41 goals as the trio shared the Rocket Richard Trophy.
“2003–04 Calgary Flames season” enters the record as nHL team season. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Calgary, Flames and season can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“2003–04 Calgary Flames season” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Calgary, Flames and season provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4602184. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2003, 1996 and 2004.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “2003–04 Calgary Flames season”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 2003–04 Calgary Flames season primary sources, 2003–04 Calgary Flames season archive and Calgary research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “2003–04 Calgary Flames season”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “2003–04 Calgary Flames season” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.