A Year After Cup, Flames Oust Crisp : NHL: Defending champion Calgary fires its coach in the wake of a first-round playoff loss to the Kings. No successor is named.

Terry Crisp, whose Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup last season but were upset by the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of this year’s NHL playoffs, was fired today.

In three seasons with the Flames, Crisp led them to their first Stanley Cup, the league’s best record in 1988 and ’89 and the second-best record this season. His record was 144-63-33.

General Manager Cliff Fletcher said Crisp, 46, had the option of remaining with the team in a “meaningful capacity,” but the former NHL player was not at today’s news conference. Fletcher did not name Crisp’s successor but said he planned to do so within several days.

“It is the feeling that to maximize the potential of our hockey club it necessitates a change of coach,” Fletcher said.

Although the Flames won the ’89 Stanley Cup, this year’s early exit from the playoffs apparently sealed Crisp’s fate. In his rookie season, the Flames finished first in the overall standings but were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round by the Edmonton Oilers.

Crisp, whose red hair matches his fiery temper, took some heat in Calgary for publicly criticizing his players. Team owners asked him to tone down his foul language behind the bench because of complaints from fans.

Few criticisms were heard of Crisp last season, though, as the Flames won their second straight President’s Trophy with 117 points. After a first-round playoff scare from Vancouver, the Flames went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Earlier this season, though, whispers of discontent began. There were reports that the players didn’t respect Crisp and openly questioned his coaching methods.

Crisp, twice nominated for NHL coach of the year, has two years remaining on the contract he signed last summer with the Flames. He played 11 seasons with Boston, St. Louis, the New York Islanders and Philadelphia, where he played on Stanley Cup champions in 1974 and ’75.

He was an assistant coach for two seasons with the Flyers, then took over as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Soo Greyhounds. He coached the Greyhounds to three league championships.

Crisp then spent two seasons with the Moncton Golden Flames, Calgary’s American Hockey League farm team.