Miikka Kiprusoff is the Calgary Flames' franchise leader in wins, shutouts, games played, saves, save percentage and goals-against average, but how close was he to leaving his legacy in another Canadian city?

According to former Flames head coach and general manager Darryl Sutter, closer than you might expect.

While appearing on Flames Talk with Pat Steinberg and Wes Gilbertson on Thursday, Sutter revealed that the Vancouver Canucks were also bidding for the Finnish goaltender's services.

"(The San Jose Sharks) were stacked with goalies, and he was somewhere between 1 to 4 on the chart, depending on who you talk to and what day it was and what month it was," Sutter recalled of the November 2003 trade. "I knew what he was capable of being and doing, and I knew that we needed a top goaltender.

"I believe it ended up being a second-round pick for Miikka, and that was as far as we could go and we ended up doing it."

However, if it wasn't for San Jose searching out the best deal, Kiprusoff may have been headed to the 2003-04 Northwest Division-winning Canucks.

"Vancouver was in on him too, big time. But I think (the Sharks) probably felt that second was (going to be) a higher pick if they took our second rather than Vancouver's second," Sutter said. "So, we were fortunate to get him."

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Sutter served as San Jose's head coach from 1997 to 2002 — crossing over with Kiprusoff's first three NHL seasons — before being hired as both the bench boss and general manager in Calgary, eventually dealing for his former netminder.

And from there, the rest is history.

Kiprusoff arrived in Calgary and led the Flames to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2004, knocking off those very Canucks who nearly acquired him in the first round.

The Flames made trips to the playoffs in the next four seasons behind Kiprusoff, who won the Vezina and William M. Jennings Trophies in 2005-06.

He became just the fourth Flame to have his jersey retired, in March joining Lanny McDonald, Jarome Iginla and Mike Vernon in the rafters at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

So, while we'll never know exactly what might have happened had the Sharks decided to ship Kiprusoff to Vancouver, it's hard to imagine what would have become of the mid-to-late-2000s Flames had they not acquired arguably the best goalie in franchise history.

How close were Canucks to acquiring Miikka Kiprusoff over Flames?

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