As far as the #42 goes in Flames history it is synonymous with one player and one player only and that’s the Russian point producing machine Sergei Makarov.
By the time he reached the NHL in 1989-90, Makarov was already an international star, having played for the Soviet Union international teams (World Cup and Olympics) from 1978-1989. He was a talent like no other on the international stage and the Flames made the move to select him in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. There was only one minor detail standing in the way of him joining those powerhouse teams of the 80’s (imagine him on the 86 or 89 team?