SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Hockey
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
COLUMNS
NHL
The Teams
Full Schedule
Monthly Schedule
Standings
Statistics
Rosters
Injury list
Movement
Trades
Hits Gallery
INTERACTIVE
JUNIOR
MORE HOCKEY
ALSO ON SLAM!
Sunday, February 28, 1999
One of the best!
Fleury's season ranks right up there
He declared himself fine and ready to continue his dazzling play tomorrow night against the Sharks, one of the team's sure to pitch him serious woo in the off-season.
At 69 points, Fleury's pushing to catch Anaheim's golddust twins, Kariya and Selanne, in the NHL scoring race.
"My most satisfying,'' he has frequently categorized this year. But where does his winter of '98-99 rate in the pantheon of keepsake individual seasons by Flames? Certainly high, and considering the all-around level of his play and the over-all quality of those around him, taking into account the distractions of his impending unrestricted free agency, it has been a remarkable achievement.
This will be the fifth consecutive year he'll headline the Flames in scoring and sixth time in seven seasons (Robert Reichel took the honour in 1993-94).
Doubtless he'll be included on the bottom end of a number of Hart Trophy ballots (voters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association are obliged to rank 1 through 5), with Lindros, Jagr and Hasek naturally enough leading the way.
Only on April 18th will Fleury's season fully be measured, of course. His impact on this team, however, can never be underestimated. But Fleury will have a difficult task convincing us that his finest hour could be any better than those of these gentlemen:
1. Kent Nilsson, 1980-81.
2. Al MacInnis, 1990-91.
3. Hakan Loob, 1987-88.
4. Lanny McDonald, 1982-83.
5. Mike Vernon, 1988-89.
6. Joe Nieuwendyk, 1987-88.
Nilsson's incredible 131-point season, highlighting the franchise's shift north from Atlanta, simply cannot be topped. No matter how exasperating the mercurial Magic Man could be. No Flame has scored more points in a season. No Flame has finished higher on the league scoring list (3rd). No Flame has won the team scoring derby by more points (48).
The Flames scored 319 goals that year, which meant Nilsson was in on more than one-third of them.
The odd thing is that despite the Magic Man's brilliance that year, it wasn't until 1987-88 that a Flame joined the 50-50 club (Nilsson scored 49 goals in 1980-81), that being Swedish sensation Hakan Loob. Loob became the second Flame to score 50 goals in a season, added 56 assists, was the first man in franchise history to be named to the year-end first all-star team and so pulls in at the No. 3 position on our ranking.
In 1990-91, Fleury topped the team with 104 points but it was MacInnis (28G,75A) who made the most indelible impression, finishing just one point behind, ninth in the league. Only four other defencemen in NHL history -- Brian Leetch, Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin -- have cracked the 100-point barrier, putting MacInnis in stellar company.
Drawing in at the No. 4 slotting is Lanny McDonald's 66-goal 1982-83 season. It was the moment the kid from Hanna graduated from mere star status around these parts to full-fledged icon.
No Flame since has come within 12 goals of McDonald's on-slaught.
Yeah, yeah, Vernon had a powerhouse platooned out in front of him that Stanley Cup year but how can anyone possibly argue with a 37-6-5 regular-season record and 2.65 GAA? He was pretty much taken for granted as the juggernaut rolled to the President's Trophy.
But in the playoffs, particularly that first, fateful round against the Canucks, the light switch flicked on and everyone was jolted into the reality of just how valuable the little fella had been.
Nieuwendyk sauntered in from Ithaca, N.Y. and galvanized the city during his rookie season. For a long while, it appeared he might overtake Mike Bossy's first-year goal-scoring record but settled for a mere 51, still tied for the third-highest total in franchise history.
Certainly the game has re-invented itself since Nilsson hit for 131. It's more claustrophobic, unforgiving and, in too many ways to elaborate on, not nearly as much fun. Fleury, however, has turned his protracted goodbye into grand theatre.
He won't reach his personal high point total of 104. He won't score 50, either.
No, it won't be the greatest individual season a Calgary Flame has ever put in.
All things considered, however, it very well wind up being the most memorable.