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.
Fleury played most of his career in the 90's which was dark days for offensive NHL hockey. Somehow he managed to overcome his size and become a point a game player with over 1k games played which is pretty incredible. Not only that he averaged over a point a game in 77 playoff games. IMO the most talented Flames player ever.
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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.
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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.
You're equating Nilsson to Fata?
Nilsson was an ultra talented player who had better than a point per game. Nilsson had the ability to control games. Nilsson's problem is that he just didn't have the desire to compete hard on a consistent basis. If the game got rough or intensely played he may or may not have wanted to try hard.
Fata was a very fast skater who was just a very fast skater. He didn't have an iota of skill in comparison to Nilsson. He didn't have hockey sense to compete at the NHL level. He just didn't have the abilities to compete on the NHL, other than speed.
There is nothing equal about these two players.
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Nilsson. Was on another level in that era, as Gretzky says in the above video, motivation was really his vice from chasing Wayne year after year for scoring. Gaudreau is the only one close to match Nilsson for stickhandling with speed and vision, but JG does not have the the shot, and, size for the era as Nilsson did.
Fleury was a great on ice story and battled every night and put up a lot of points. No playoff series wins as a Flame though, outside of his rookie year playing on the 4th line.
His off ice issues with teammates, coaches and management, which could be and were kept mostly quiet back in the old days before social media, as the Flames organization protected him for years, cannot be overlooked because it was that disrupting.
Even after all the things they went through for a decade putting up with him before trading him, and then another 10 years passing, the Flames bent over backwards to get him reinstated with the league so he could get his NHL pension and benefits, and, as a unbelievable privilege that the Flames allow him to suit up in preseason, he still wasn't grateful and slagged the team months later.
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.
Last edited by browna; 04-09-2020 at 03:02 PM.
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Nilsson. Was on another level in that era, as Gretzky says in the above video, motivation was really his vice from chasing Wayne year after year for scoring. Gaudreau is the only one close to match Nilsson for stickhandling with speed and vision, but JG does not have the the shot, and, size for the era as Nilsson did.
Fleury was a great on ice story and battled every night and put up a lot of points. No playoff series wins as a Flame though, outside of his rookie year playing on the 4th line.
His off ice issues with teammates, coaches and management, which could be and were kept mostly quiet back in the old days before social media, as the Flames organization protected him for years, cannot be overlooked because it was that disrupting.
Even after all the things they went through for a decade putting up with him before trading him, and then another 10 years passing, the Flames bent over backwards to get him reinstated with the league so he could get his NHL pension and benefits, and, as a unbelievable privilege that the Flames allow him to suit up in preseason, he still wasn't grateful and slagged the team months later.
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.
All I am hearing here is a bunch of bs speculation on your part but ok.
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Fleury was a great on ice story and battled every night and put up a lot of points. No playoff series wins as a Flame though, outside of his rookie year playing on the 4th line.
You mean the year they won their only Stanley Cup?
Fleury all the way. He was only 5'6". How do you do what he did in the NHL at that size. I love Gaudreau but ultimately I think his success will be capped by his size and his inability to play a physical game. (I still think he is a great NHL'er and will have a good career.) Unless you watched Fleury game in game out I don't think you can appreciate how hard and tough he played for such a small player. I don't care about the off ice,I really don't, retire his number. It is an embarrassment. Macinnis and Gilmour had off ice issues, yet somehow we hold this guy who overcame unbelievable personal demons, (his parents issues, Graham James, substance abuse) to a higher standard and don't want his number retired because of his twitter feed?!? If I had more character I would boycott the Flames until #14 was in the rafters.
