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Monday, March 1, 1999
Burned!
Fleury trade tough on Flames fans and players
Theo Fleury and Chris Dingman for Rene Corbet and Wade Belak?
If it had been just Dingman for Corbet and Belak, you'd be reading this about 14 pages back under the title of "Transactions.''
But this is Theo Fleury!
In Calgary today they are going through more than a trade. This, Edmontonians know after the loss of greats like Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, is like a death in the family.
Combine that with sewering a season, and how can the fans, not to mention the players on the team, not feel betrayed?
Even if Flames GM Al Coates turned out to have done the best thing for his franchise, the possible emotional backlash might result in his not being around by then to say, '`Told you so.''
The best way to view this trade - which has many Oiler overtones - is Dingman for Corbet and Belak. And Fleury for the oft-traded Future Considerations.
Calgary is getting something for Fleury. Edmonton got nothing for Luke Richardson and Curtis Joseph.
Would Edmonton fans trade those first-round upsets in hand over Dallas and Colorado in the last two years, for a pair of players in the bush? Would Edmonton have sold those 13,000 season tickets? Would the Oilers players have felt they'd been betrayed and never viewed wearing the sweater the same?
As we watch this Edmonton group struggle this season, you can only wonder how much better they might be if they'd managed to get something, anything, for Richardson and Joseph.
There's no question this is one of those damned if you do, and damned if you don't deals.
Glen Sather, who doesn't lack for intestinal fortitude, refused to do it to the Oilers owners, the fans or his team.
The Flames, led by Fleury, were making a real run at it. Before they lost to St. Louis Friday they were undefeated in seven and had lost only once in their last 12. They'd put themselves in the hunt. The Saddledome had been The Dead Zone until the last few weeks when the team, suddenly, turned on the town.
Now the fans have basically been told they wasted their money on those season tickets. Worse, they have just been given an emotional excuse not to buy for next year, in a city which can't afford to lose season ticket holders.
The team has been told they wasted a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make the charge they were making.
"I'm sure Calgary thought they did the right thing under the circumstances,'' said Sather.
"We were in the same position as Calgary. We were fighting for a playoff spot. In our situation, with the new ownership group coming in, we had to think of the fans and the moment. In our situation we felt we couldn't take the chance to weaken the team.''
Don't read that wrong. Sather isn't saying Calgary has made a mistake. About every second day he wishes he had gone the same way. Especially watching his goaltending and location in the standings this year.
You get the idea he's kind of happy Coates went this way, just to find out how it will work for future reference.
Those aren't the only Oiler overtones.
The last chance Fleury has to help the Flames will be tonight when he plays for the Avalanche against the Oilers in Denver. But he leaves a now highly suspect group behind him which happens to have four games remaining against the Oilers.
That's the good news. The bad news is that if the playoffs started today Edmonton would be playing Colorado in the first round. Add Fleury to a lineup which already includes Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Adam Deadmarsh, Claude Lemieux, Valeri Kamenski and goalie Patrick Roy and ... well, don't make any bad bets.
What do the Flames get in the future?
A first-round pick in 2000 if the Avalanche manages to sign Fleury. Maybe nothing.
A second-rounder in 2000, regardless.
And, sometime in the next 30 days, they get to pick a player off a private list of players on the Colorado reserve list.
Fleury for Ramzi Abid?
Somebody like that.
Hey, whoever he is, he might turn out to be a helluva hockey player.
But to quote a famous Calgary wrestling broadcaster: "In the meantime, inbetween time ...''