[Rumour] Flames Considering Axing 'Forever a Flame'

[powderjunkie]

Orr
Lidstrom/Bourque/Shore/Harvey/Coffey

Then I agree there are another ~ twenty guys who could round out the top ten depending on your preference. Breaking down that next tier is really tough, but I think it's fair to say most people wouldn't have more than a few more who they strongly feel are discernibly greater than Chopper (ie. you don't necessarily have to call him top ten, but I don't think you can list ten who are definitely better) .

Put another way, if we were doing a schoolyard pick'em to make the two greatest fantasy teams ever, I think MacInnis ends up on one of the teams (ie. top 12) nine times out of ten.


I think Iggy is similar among wingers: Howe, Richard, Bossy, Jagr, Hull, Hull, and Ovy, but then it's really hard to differentiate among the next tier. I put Iginla near the top of that next tier based on his adjusted goal total, but I think there's plenty of room for debate.

To the other point about the Flames Cup - Lanny had 1G, 4P in 14 GP in the playoffs (tying him for 14th in team points)...he missed games 3, 4, and 5, though his goal did come in the clinching 6th game. He was huge in '86, though.

[Corral]

Sometimes a thread like this will remind me that many posters here either don't have long memories or didn't follow this team in the 1990s. Theo Fleury was the Calgary Flames in the 1990s. The guy was consistently close to the top of the NHL scoring race in the early 1990s - at a time of his career much like where Gaudreau and Monahan are now. While that team crumpled in round one each year, Fleury was always giving it 110% on the ice (and off apparently). While overshadowed by all the great players on that 1989 team, he made his mark on the ice even in his rookie year. He was one of the few Flames who seemed to have the talent and desire to win games all on his own. It was his arrival which really changed the dynamic in the Battle of Alberta. The Flames finally had a true superstar of their own. I guess you had to be there to witness that, and i gather some of you only have highlights to watch in that regard.

Sure he left the team on a bad note. But those were dark days at the Saddledome for everyone, and he had endured the decline of a once great franchise into the 'Young Guns' playing with a flaming horse for a logo. The Flames weren't going to pay him what he could get elsewhere, and so who can blame him for wanting out? And to say that the owners are justified in excluding Fleury from the jersey retirement because somehow they had to put up with his antics and badmouthing???? Total hogwash. Every one of those owners lined their pockets on the back of Fleury's hockey greatness. They cashed in big profits thanks to Theo Fleury. Make no mistake about that.

While all of that would be enough for me to raise his jersey to the rafters - you have to also note that when the 2002 olympic roster was being assembled Gretzky has explicitly noted that Fleury was hand picked for that team. Why? Because the greatest player to ever play in the NHL felt that Canada had a better chance at gold with Fleury on the ice. He was right.

Finally i'd like to think that no NHL player will ever agree to wear the #14 Flames jersey even if the team never retires it. There is no better acknowledgement than that from your peers. I'm sure Fleury knows it.

[Jiri Hrdina]

With all due respect I don’t think all of that is true
Theo worked hard on the ice no question
But he was never the most well conditioned guy and his commitment off the ice wasn’t great
There are stories of the Flames hiring a personal trainer for Theo and him no showing
We each have our memories of what he was like and the truth is likely some combo of all those perceptions