They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Along with the New York Islanders, the Flames were created in 1971 as part of the NHL's conflict with the rival World Hockey Association (WHA).

The franchise struggled to draw fans and, after averaging only 10,000 per game by the 1979–80 season was sold and relocated to Alberta to become the Calgary Flames.

Two Flames players won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie: Vail in 1974–75 and Willi Plett in 1975–76.

General manager Cliff Fletcher is the lone member of the Atlanta team to be named to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

However, the 1971 formation of a rival major league—the World Hockey Association (WHA)—altered the NHL's plans and resulted in the two leagues battling for players and markets.

[1] Cousins named the franchise the Flames in homage to the burning of Atlanta by United States Army General William Sherman during the American Civil War.

[17] Lysiak led the Flames in scoring with 64 points and finished second to the Islanders' Denis Potvin in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.

[22] Lysiak repeated as the Flames' top scorer with 77 points while Eric Vail, playing his first full season, led with 39 goals.

[24] The team overcame an eight-game losing streak in December and injuries to several key players to post their first winning season with a 34–31–15 record.

[27] Fletcher later credited Geoffrion's outgoing personality as being the primary reason why people in Atlanta followed the Flames in the franchise's first seasons while the team's players later stated an appreciation for Creighton's more technical coaching and teaching style.

[3] Creighton produced a consistent, but not outstanding team, as the Flames finished third in the Patrick for the following three seasons and typically won a few games more than they lost each year.

[30] Seeking to improve his team's fortunes, Fletcher made several moves over the following seasons to rework the Flames roster.

Al MacNeil replaced Creighton as head coach prior to the season,[37] and the team acquired Swedish star Kent Nilsson following the demise of the WHA.

[38] At the 1979 NHL entry draft, Fletcher selected four players – Paul Reinhart, Jim Peplinski, Pat Riggin and Tim Hunter – who would ultimately become regulars in the Flames line up.

[26] Concerns that low attendance could result in the relocation of the team surfaced by 1976, prompting politicians and the players themselves to purchase tickets in a bid to stabilize the franchise.

[26] Adding to the Flames' financial woes was the fact that the Omni Coliseum was one of the last major arenas in North America to be built without revenue-generating luxury suites, which led Fletcher to describe the facility as being "out-of-date when it opened".

[43] He claimed to have suffered significant financial losses on the team while low viewership hampered his ability to sign a television contract.

[44] The Flames, estimated to have lost $12 million in its eight years, had been rumored for months to be moving to Calgary, though Dallas and Houston were also mentioned as possible destinations.

The Seaman brothers, Daryl and Byron, had made an offer of $14 million while the City of Calgary prepared to build a new arena for the team.

[46] However, Canadian businessman Nelson Skalbania emerged as a rival bidder for the team before joining the Calgary consortium.

Coincidentally, their then-sister team Atlanta Hawks also changed their colors to red and yellow shortly after the Flames were established.

Eric Vail was the first, as he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the top rookie in 1974–75 after scoring 39 goals and finishing with 60 points.

[58] Paraguayan-born Willi Plett won the award two years later after scoring 33 goals and 23 assists in his first full NHL season.

He was subsequently joined by Al McDonough (1974), Tom Lysiak (1975, 1976 and 1977), Curt Bennett (1975 and 1976), Eric Vail (1977), Bill Clement (1978) and Kent Nilsson (1980).