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Monday, March 1, 1999
Fleury deal better than nothing
Well, the first thing you have to do is make sure you do in fact trade him. Only the total neophyte thought that Calgary was going to retain Theo Fleury either for the long term or, at the very least, for the stretch run.
Regardless of the fact that Fleury was having an outstanding year, Calgary GM Al Coates must have determined -- and correctly so -- that even if the Flames make the post season, there was no Stanley Cup in their future. Couple this with Fleury eliminating a possible deal to L.A. by his refusal to agree to a $24-million, four-year deal, and that meant the Flames were 100% out of the picture.
So, Coates does the only thing he can. He deals the longtime Flame for what, on paper, looks like nowhere near enough, but at least is something that he hopes can be as profitable as Boston GM Harry Sinden's deals have been. Sinden appeared to have lost his mind when he dealt 100- point scorer Barry Pederson to Vancouver for 20-goal scorer Cam Neely, or when he traded Bill Ranford, a Conn Smythe Trophy-winner, Rick Tocchet, a two-time 40-goal scorer, and Adam Oates, the top point-getter in the 1990s, for three guys named Jason Allison, Anson Carter and Jim Carey.
Until Al Coates speaks, we will not know what other deals might have been pending and, even then, all fans and media can do is play armchair GM and second- guess as to whether he could have done better. Rene Corbet is a better left winger than Chris Dingman, and Wade Belak is a Saskatoon kid, tough as nails but a project. The draft picks are an unknown commodity. What the deal sadly points out yet again is the uneven playing field that the six Canadian franchises, or at least five of them, are involved in.
(You can listen to Liam Maguire on OSR 1200 today, tomorrow, Thursday and Friday of this week, from 6-10 a.m.)