The Flames do not have a history of having high numbers. That changed last year, when they signed Michael Frolik in free agency.
The problem? Frolik had only ever worn #67 through his entire career, just one number below Jaromir Jagr. To force him to switch to a new number just because some people don't like numbers above 40 would have been, well, rude.
So Frolik got to stick with #67, and became the first Flame to wear it. Brandon Bollig switched back to his original #52, and became the first Flame to wear that number. And Micheal Ferland simply stuck with his original #79; he'd previously worn #27 with the Brandon Wheat Kings, but there was some seniority already present on the team in that case.