Fluery was a hall of fame caliber player of whom almost all of his peak performance occurred in Calgary. He's second to Iginla for all time best Flames, and some would argue that if he played his whole career here and kept on the straight and narrow would be the #1 all time best Flame. Only reason why he's not in the hall of fame and up in the rafters is due to off ice issues that quite frankly in my opinion do not warrant him missing out on the level of recognition his career deserves.
Yet the NHL and Hall of Fame seem to have no problem promoting/recognizing players like Bobby Hull despite his not so great history of domestic abuse and other issues off the ice.
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Originally Posted by CroFlames
Before you call me a pessimist or a downer, the Flames made me this way. Blame them.
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Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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"There are very, very few players who can totally control a game,'' the rugged Willi Plett once said of enigmatic linemate Kent Nilsson.
"Usually, even very good players need someone else in order to shine. Kent didn't need anyone else to shine.
"And he made everyone around him - no matter who they were - shine, too."
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Think of the impact this way: The 131 points Nilsson stockpiled that year are a full 21 more than any other single individual season by a Flame (Joey Mullen, 110, '88-89). The 82 assists stand 16 better than the next best (Theo Fleury, 66, '92-93).
Finishing third in league scoring behind the inevitable Wayne Gretzky (164 points) and Marcel Dionne (135), the aptly-dubbed Magic Man outpaced the second most prolific Flame, Guy Chouinard, by a gobsmacking 48 points.
Nilsson's assist total trailed Chouinard's point total that season by one.
"Yeah,'' recalls Chouinard, "I finished a ways behind, didn't I?
"I can still remember Kent's hands, like a surgeon's, the way he handled the puck. The way he moved. Most of us had to slow down before we made a play, looking to the left or to the right, but Kent he could do everything full (steam). At that time, it wasn't as common as it is now.
"That year, it seemed everything he touched ended up the net, whether by him or someone he'd given the puck to."
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Leave the final word to Al MacNeil, a first-hand witness.
"You were never sure how much of Kent Nilsson you were getting,'' he said once, looking back on '80-81.
"That year, I think we saw as much as he was willing to let any of us in on."
Theo for sure. I been a Flames fan all my life, but when Theo got traded, it was the first time I was a player fan. Regardless of the team he played for.
I may have told this story before on this site, but Theo has always been one of my favorite players. Still is.
I believe it was 1987 I went to see a game in Spokane between the Chiefs and Moose Jaw. I had never seen Theo play live so was pretty interested to see what he could do that night. I remember Moose Jaw was terrible and it was basically Theo versus the world. The arena in Spokane at that time was the old Boone Street barn, low glass, loud fans, great atmosphere. Spokane scored a goal or two early to take the lead, and every time they scored they'd skate by the glass, and as fans reached over they give some high fives. Well, I could tell early on Theo was playing with a big chip on his shoulder and as soon as he scored he skated along the glass with his glove up, looking for high fives. Of course the fans went beserk, booing him and throwing stuff at him. They continued to boo him and jeer him all night long, whenever he had the puck or if he got hit or really any play he was involved in. The game started getting out of hand as Spokane was clearly the better team, later on Theo decided to scrap a pretty big Chief, he did ok, and as he was escorted off the ice he was waving at the fans with a smile on his face. The fans hated him, more booing, more things being thrown at him. I was in awe. One of my favorite games I've seen live, and still one of my favorite players.
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Fleury is the best player to ever play for the Flames. His achievements despite the abuse he suffered is truly remarkable. He was our first superstar and the only other player on that list is #12. Sorry lanny.
The fact that no player will ever wear #14 even though it’s not in the rafters is all you need to know.
Gretzky said good things about the magic man but when he wanted to assemble a gold medal roster he made sure Theo fleury was on it.
Theo overcame incredible odds just to make it to the NHL. It all makes his on-ice achievements even more astonishing. An absolutely electrifying player who brought it every night. He consistently got under the skin of opponents, while putting up huge offensive numbers. Pure talent with a relentless drive to win.
We all know Fleury’s story, we have seen the articles, and read the books. In Playing With Fire, he openly admits to his shortcomings as a teammate. He is an addict with a lot of personal demons.
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Originally Posted by browna
Again, fans of the team don't know anywhere the amount of disrespect and trouble that he caused personally and professionally to the various people in the organization over the years, which is why he doesn't have his number retired off officially, or on the radar for the HoF, and what the organization had to put up with him in his time here and probably since his retirement, and that counts for more then something to me.
browna, you’re one of my favourite posters but I’m really not comfortable with this type of post. It comes across as gossip, without any back up. If you can elaborate on this, please do.
15 is going to be really interesting. No obvious choice. Lots of goons.
Tanner Glass
Ladi Smid
Kevin Westgarth
Tim Jackman
Nigel Dawes
Byron Ritchie
Chris Simon
Blair Betts
Rico Fata
Marty St Louis
Sandy McCarthy
Brent Ashton
Neil Sheehy
Rich Chernomaz
Shane Churla
Brett Hull???
Robin Bartel
Steve Tambellini
Kevin LaVallee
Kent Nilsson, the Magic Man, was so skillful and talented that he made himself disappear - that's how good his was. In fact his skills are so good that he got the Flames Joe Nieuwendyk and Stephan Matteau.
Skill-wise, I think Fleury was probably the most skillful player the Flames have ever had.The other players that come close are: Joe Nieuwendyk, Joey Mullen, Sergie Makarov, and Johnny Gaudreau.
To me Nilsson = Fata.
Ridiculous.
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Yet the NHL and Hall of Fame seem to have no problem promoting/recognizing players like Bobby Hull despite his not so great history of domestic abuse and other issues off the ice.
Absolutely. I don't know how we got to a point in sporting society where having drug abuse issues and personal demons somehow are considered worse than guys with domestic violence and other criminal issues. Fuhr suspended half a season because he admitted he took cocaine. Fluery getting ex-communicated from the game because he had substance abuse issues and other personal problems etc. If we can separate the person from their career in almost all other cases I don't see why we can't just do the right thing and get Theo in the hall and his number retired.
Theo gets trashed all the time, yet Bobby Hull, Patrick Roy and a whole other cast of characters who beat their wives are immortalized in children's books and talked about as legends of the game completely omitting their off-ice issues.
If we look to other sports somehow OJ Simpson was honored by the NFL this past season as being #40 in their top 100 players. OJ frickin Simpson somehow can get respect for his athletic accomplishments in current times and yet Fluery can't even have his number retired in a city where people mostly accept him for what he is: a guy who's been to hell and back due to some issues that are not his fault and some that are.
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Yet the NHL and Hall of Fame seem to have no problem promoting/recognizing players like Bobby Hull despite his not so great history of domestic abuse and other issues off the ice.
They aren’t giving Theo a microphone at centre ice to talk for 25 minutes on live TV. They just aren’t.
Of course his number should be retired. They don’t let anyone else wear it either. But they aren’t doing the ceremony, ever.
Absolutely. I don't know how we got to a point in sporting society where having drug abuse issues and personal demons somehow are considered worse than guys with domestic violence and other criminal issues. Fuhr suspended half a season because he admitted he took cocaine. Fluery getting ex-communicated from the game because he had substance abuse issues and other personal problems etc. If we can separate the person from their career in almost all other cases I don't see why we can't just do the right thing and get Theo in the hall and his number retired.
Theo gets trashed all the time, yet Bobby Hull, Patrick Roy and a whole other cast of characters who beat their wives are immortalized in children's books and talked about as legends of the game completely omitting their off-ice issues.
If we look to other sports somehow OJ Simpson was honored by the NFL this past season as being #40 in their top 100 players. OJ frickin Simpson somehow can get respect for his athletic accomplishments in current times and yet Fluery can't even have his number retired in a city where people mostly accept him for what he is: a guy who's been to hell and back due to some issues that are not his fault and some that are.
Yet the NHL and Hall of Fame seem to have no problem promoting/recognizing players like Bobby Hull despite his not so great history of domestic abuse and other issues off the ice.
It's clearly just personal when it comes to Theo. You can feel it in the way people here write about him.
Otherwise I'd challenge them to explain why he doesn't deserve recognition by the club because of his status as a recovering addict.
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