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Friday, October 8, 1999
Double take
Flames, Canadiens holding hands in fall from grace
But you can bet they know a thing or two about what the Canadiens and Flames are going through these days.
After all, they can relate to going from the penthouse to the courthouse, er, outhouse.
In a search that parallels O.J.'s exhaustive manhunt for his ex-wife's killer, both hockey clubs are now in pursuit of the success and respectability they once garnered as Stanley Cup finalists in 1986 and 1989.
Through a series of terrible trades and even worse draft picks, the clubs have mirrored one another as they plummeted to the point where their modest goals now revolve around simply making the playoffs.
And as we brace for tonight's battle of bottom-feeders at the 'Dome, it's interesting to note the symmetry of both teams' fall from glory:
Shortly after the Habs took their last sip from Lord Stanley's mug in 1993, the club started to lose many of its stars due to age. At the same time, the Flames started parting ways with their Stanley Cup heroes.
Struggling with rapidly rising salaries, the low Canadian dollar and high taxes, both clubs started losing high-priced stars and having no young talent to replace them with due to poor draft picks.
With the exception of Saku Koivu in 1993, the Habs have failed to draft an impact player in the first round dating back to before the infamous Doug Wickenheiser debacle. Since, 1988 the Habs have used their top pick to grab no-names like Eric Charron (now with the Flames), Lindsay Vallis, Brent Bilodeau, David Wilkie, Brad Brown, Terry Ryan and Matt Higgins.
Although the Flames have fared slightly better of late, first-round draft picks have included names like Chris Dingman (1994), Jesper Mattson ('93), Niklas Sunblad ('91), Kent Manderville ('89) and Jason Muzzatti ('88). At least the Flames can boast about Cory Stillman, Denis Gauthier, Oleg Saprykin and the crown jewel of them all, Derek Morris.
Further compounding both clubs problems is the fact that since the Habs traded Patrick Roy and the Flames dealt Mike Vernon, neither club has been able to find goaltending competent enough to support the inexperienced crews in front of them.
All that being said, the single-biggest reason for Montreal's downfall can be pegged at the franchise's embarrassing trade record.
It started with Serge Savard, who will forever be mocked for his decision to trade Chris Chelios for aging Denis Savard. He proved conclusively he should have worn a helmet during his playing days when he packaged John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne for Mark Recchi and a third rounder. Recchi has since returned to Philly and all the Habs have to show for it is Danius Zubrus. Savard also traded Sylvain Lefevbre, Guy Carbonneau and Mike Keane for relatively little.
In 1996, Rejean Houle took over as GM to swap French sniper Pierre Turgeon, in essence, for Shayne Corson. He can also take credit for giving up Darcy Tucker, who now captains and leads the Lightning in scoring, for Igor Ulanov, amongst others. He said goodbye to tough guy Donald Brashear for Jassen Cullimore. Further, he failed to recognize the immense talent in young Valeri Bure a year and a half ago and gave him up to Al Coates and the Flames for Jonas Hoglund, Zarley Zalapski and a fourth-rounder.
Coates' trading record has been much better than that of much-maligned predecessor Doug Risebrough (remember Doug Gilmour?), but the two of them have been forced several times to salvage what they could for players like Theo Fleury, Joe Nieuwendyk and Al MacInnis.
Dealt further blows last year with the losses of stars like Fleury, Vincent Damphousse and Recchi, both clubs know they're up against a wall that seems to be forever closing in on them. Both stumbling to 0-2 starts, they know they have precious little time to show their frustrated fans their rebuilding efforts are progressing.
So while O.J. scours golf courses in search of the killer (or killers), the Flames and Habs will continue to scour the hockey world in search of answers to their personnel problems.
It's anyone's guess who will find their men first.
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