Theoren Fleury Deserves to be in the HHOF - Frank Seravalli

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Sometimes people aren’t who we want them to be.

Fleury has burned lots of bridges with the organization but you can’t discount what his play on the ice meant to many fans. Retired sweaters don’t hang in the owners offices, or the team dressing room. They hang in the rafters of a publicly funded arena for paying customers to see when they go to a game. That’s a factor IMO.

Agree. Go around this city and ask anyone "what do you remember about theoren fleury" and I'll wager a large amount of money that 99% of the comments will be about his exciting play on the ice.

Those holding grudges are doing just that. It's their call, but it's not about hockey.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.

Agree. Go around this city and ask anyone "what do you remember about theoren fleury" and I'll wager a large amount of money that 99% of the comments will be about his exciting play on the ice.

Those holding grudges are doing just that. It's their call, but it's not about hockey.

If the Habs or Leafs or any of those 80+ year old franchises retired jerseys for exciting players, they'd have no numbers left.

Where do you draw the line on # retirements? IMO, only #2 and #12 should be retired.

Theo is in the conversation for HOF based on his points and a championship, but he's not # retirement material.

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

If you were in the building that night you might understand the 'historic' term...maybe the loudest time in the Dome since the '04 run.

As for the rest of his quote, I don't see a direct shot at Flames org as much as at hockey culture in general, which he was absolutely right about.

Animosity between org's and superstars is a common occurrence.

The time to retire his jersey is this year in an empty building, when they can have a 7 second delay on his speech...

I was in the building that night, of course the Dome wanted Fleury to score.

Historic? Thats laughable.

Fleury could not even keep up with the play that game. People acting like he should have made the team that year had to be basing it off old nostalgic love for Theo and obviously didn't watch him play those games very closely.

[N-E-B]

Without a doubt he should be. It’s the Hockey Hall of Fame. Not the Hockey and Also People Who Aren’t Occasionally Obnoxious Hall of Fame.

I get that he rubs people the wrong way, but this should be 100% about his hockey career and in my mind he’s easily HoF worthy.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

I think people need to be careful about letting off-ice matters creep into the discussion for player eligibility into things like the hall of fame and retirement. Norms change and there are many issues that can seem outspoken at a time and go against the grain of current establishment norms. It's important to reflect if you're simply propping up some type of personal/establishment stance at the expense of the game itself.

There's many examples out there right now of players being 'problematic' to their teams and their leagues. In most instances they're on the right side of history but getting the ire of the old guard.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

If the Habs or Leafs or any of those 80+ year old franchises retired jerseys for exciting players, they'd have no numbers left.

Where do you draw the line on # retirements? IMO, only #2 and #12 should be retired.

Theo is in the conversation for HOF based on his points and a championship, but he's not # retirement material.

No Vernon

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

I was in the building that night, of course the Dome wanted Fleury to score.

Historic? Thats laughable.

Fleury could not even keep up with the play that game. People acting like he should have made the team that year had to be basing it off old nostalgic love for Theo and obviously didn't watch him play those games very closely.

It's your opinion and that's fine. A better word than historic would have been 'magical'. There are now 30 loser fanbases each year, though a few of them are lucky enough to enjoy a bit of 'magic' each year. The Hurricanes had it very recently with the EBUG.

The Flames had it in '04. It's been few and far between since then. Tkachuk's buzzer beater is the only moment that stands out stronger for me since then. I'm sure there have been a few others on par with this Fleury goal, but at least for me, none are as memorable.

[Corral]

When Canada HAD to win the men’s hockey gold in salt lake 2002, the best player to ever play in the nhl made sure fleury was on that team. Yes he should be in the HHOF

[Scroopy Noopers]

I’ll add the disclaimer to my vote that I’m not against his jersey being retired. I just understand why the organization wouldn’t do that, and don’t see it happening. (I also don’t really care for jersey retirements to begin with).

100% in the HHOF though.

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by Bleeding Red

I wrote to selection committee members (who I could find an email for) a couple of years ago. Duha actually replied saying that he could not discuss the process or players in any way or he would be removed from the committee. Chickens!


I have heard the argument that Fleury was too much of a hothead or rubs people the wrong way, a bad ambassador for the game. A junk argument. Gilmour wasn't controversial (ask a St. Louis babysitter), Bobby Clarke wasn't a hothead (Ask Kharlamov about his broken ankle), Billy Smith was a good ambassador for the game?? (HOF for slashing!)


Fleury should be in the HHOF and they should be ashamed for keeping him out.

Brett Hull and his buddies destroyed the Olympic village. Still in the hall

[FlamesAddiction]

He has never done anything so terrible as to take away his accomplishments. He has also done a lot of good in his post hockey work and is still a Flame at heart.

Abuse takes a huge toll on mental health and how victims express themselves. A lot of things he has said that people take offense to seem to be related to his desire for validation and love. I have no problem with giving him that. The way people talk, you would think that he Gilmoured or Nieuwendyked the team.

[Mr.Coffee]

Poll results say it all

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Poll results say it all

Okay, sure, but you might have just a tiny bit of bias when you poll only Flames fans.

I will say I am pleasantly surprised to see so much positivity for Fleury. Sometimes when this board talks about him you would assume he is a pariah. Glad to see it's not the case.

[Mr.Coffee]

If you want to talk about (extreme?) bias, let’s have a conversation about Lowe making it into the HOF over Mogilny, Alfredsson or Fleury. Wild. Absolutely insanely idiotic on so many measures.

My favourite tweet defending the Lowe decision was in how great a dressing room guy Lowe was. Man, people are so ridiculous. So basically if Fleury was “nicer” based on people’s pre-conceived notions without ever even having met these people, Fleury would be in then? Asinine. And you see it here on this site with many of the mods and people who run the site in terms of Fleury’s jersey retirement. Wild to me.

You know what qualifies as a jersey retirement? The fact that no player since he left for like over 20 years has worn the number...... so what’s stopping the organization from acknowledging what the guy did for them? Seems like someone is being petty and at this stage I don’t think it’s Fleury, it’s Flames ownership and their billionaire egos. You see similar ego and such in the arena handling and in just day-to-day management of the organization.

It’s a shame our owners can’t put their ego at the door. 14 should be in the rafters and in basically 80-90% of NHL organizations it would be. But the Flames? Nope. So dumb.

[lambeburger]

If Kevin Lowe can get into the hall of fame, surely Theo deserves to be there.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

If you were in the building that night you might understand the 'historic' term...maybe the loudest time in the Dome since the '04 run.

As for the rest of his quote, I don't see a direct shot at Flames org as much as at hockey culture in general, which he was absolutely right about.

Animosity between org's and superstars is a common occurrence.

The time to retire his jersey is this year in an empty building, when they can have a 7 second delay on his speech...

I WAS in the building that night, and it still gives me the chills to see it on video. That was the loudest I've ever seen the dome. Still not what I would call "historic".

[Corral]

[QUOTE=Mr.Coffee;7487737]If you want to talk about (extreme?) bias, let’s have a conversation about Lowe making it into the HOF over Mogilny, Alfredsson or Fleury. Wild. Absolutely insanely idiotic on so many measures.

My favourite tweet defending the Lowe decision was in how great a dressing room guy Lowe was. Man, people are so ridiculous. So basically if Fleury was “nicer” based on people’s pre-conceived notions without ever even having met these people, Fleury would be in then? Asinine. And you see it here on this site with many of the mods and people who run the site in terms of Fleury’s jersey retirement. Wild to me.

You know what qualifies as a jersey retirement? The fact that no player since he left for like over 20 years has worn the number...... so what’s stopping the organization from acknowledging what the guy did for them? Seems like someone is being petty and at this stage I don’t think it’s Fleury, it’s Flames ownership and their billionaire egos. You see similar ego and such in the arena handling and in just day-to-day management of the organization.

It’s a shame our owners can’t put their ego at the door. 14 should be in the rafters and in basically 80-90% of NHL organizations it would be. But the Flames? Nope. So dumb.[/QUOT

Yes. The fact that no other player will wear number 14 even though it is available, is the ultimate jersey retirement. Speaks way louder than whatever the flames could muster. Really the organization is precluding its paying customers from enjoying the moment of giving Theo the acknowledgement he deserves as one of the alltime flames greats

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

If you want to talk about (extreme?) bias, let’s have a conversation about Lowe making it into the HOF over Mogilny, Alfredsson or Fleury. Wild. Absolutely insanely idiotic on so many measures.

.

its truly stunning. iets set Theo aside. Kevin Lowe over Alfredsson makes no sense. none. Senators all time franchise player versus the 7th best boy on the bus

now the race is on, will Tikkanen beat Alfie and Theo next?

[Erick Estrada]

I am stunned Lowe got in over some of the other candidates that were actually elite players in their career.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

The moral from the Lowe selection: Instead of saying a few bad things about the organization, if Fleury had run it into the ground as part of management then he'd be a HOFer right now.