A Flame from the Past: Clarke Wilm

Do you remember Clarke Wilm?

Every week, we’ll look at a forgotten Calgary Flames player in the weekly series “A Flame from the Past.” Of course, the player had to have played a significant number of games for the Flames – at least a full season. Each week, I’ll put every Flames season (since moving to Calgary) in the Wheel of Names. This week, it landed on the 1998-99 season, with the player we’ll look at in today’s article being Clarke Wilm.

Born in the small town of Central Butte, Saskatchewan in 1976, Wilm made his Western Hockey League debut in the 1992 post-season, playing a single game for the Saskatoon Blades where he was held pointless. He became regular in 1992-93, scoring 14 goals and 33 points in 69 games, with four goals and six points in nine post-season games.

In the following year, Wilm scored 18 goals and 50 points in 70 games, picking up a career-high 181 penalty minutes. Although he didn’t score in the post-season, Wilm picked up nine assists in 16 post-season games. The 1994-95 season was his draft season, where he scored 20 goals and 59 points (with 179 penalty minutes) in 71 games. He performed well in the post-season for the Blades, scoring six goals and seven points in 10 games.

That led to the Flames selecting the forward in the sixth round of the 1995 draft. Wilm torched the WHL in his final season, scoring 49 goals and 110 points in 72 games, with a goal and an assist in four post-season games. He made his professional debut in 1996-97 in the American Hockey League, scoring nine goals and 28 points in 62 games with 107 penalty minutes.

In 1997-98, Wil scored 13 goals and 39 points with 112 penalty minutes, as well as five goals and 14 points in 21 post-season games as the Saint John Flames went all the way to the AHL’s Calder Cup Finals, falling in six games to the Philadelphia Phantoms.

Wilm began his National Hockey League career in 1998-99, scoring 10 goals and 18 points in 78 games. His second season was his career-best, potting 10 goals and 22 points in 78 games. In his third season, Wilm scored seven goals and 15 points, before playing his final season with the Flames in 2001-02, scoring five goals and 16 points in 82 games.

The Central Butte product played for the Nashville Predators in 2002-03, scoring five goals and 16 points in 82 games. Wilm split his 2003-04 season between the St John’s Maple Leafs and the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring 16 goals and 33 points in 47 AHL games, and being held pointless in 10 NHL games.

During the 2004-05 lockout, Wilm played for the Maple Leafs’ AHL team where he scored 11 goals and 26 points in 69 games, amassing 145 penalty minutes. His final season in North America was with the Leafs in 2005-06, where he scored a goal and eight points in 60 games.

Wilm headed to Europe to finish his career. In 2006-07 and 2007-08, he played for Jokerit Helsinki in the SM-Liiga, scoring 22 goals and 60 points in 95 games. His final three seasons were spent in Germany, playing two seasons with the Hamburg Freezers and his last season with the Nuremberg Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers.