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Tuesday, March 2, 1999
Vernon feels for hometown
But that doesn't mean the former Flame goaltender has to like it.
After all, it's his hometown that is struggling to keep up with the big-market NHL clubs, and lost a lot of ground when it dealt its all-time leading scorer to Colorado.
"It's not a good thing. To hear they're in trouble is a little disheartening," deadpanned the netminder who backstopped the Flames to their Stanley Cup 10 years ago. "I just hope they can survive in Calgary because I plan to retire here and plan to come to a few games."
However, the goaltender that sits ninth all-time with 347 wins -- increased during last night's 2-1 victory over the Flames -- doesn't believe the Flames ownership is to blame.
"People don't realize what an NHL franchise brings to a city," said Vernon, who needs eight more wins to tie Rogie Vachon for eighth. "In '86, when we beat the Edmonton Oilers out, the economy wasn't that great here, and that sure brought the people together.
"The federal government should do something about it. You let two teams go already from Canada, and they can't afford to let anymore teams go.
"I think the governments have to step in and do something about it like the do in the United States. They do a few things that keep the morale of the city."
And until then, he said the Flames will continue to go through the same situation that saw the likes of Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Al MacInnis and himself depart.
"Financially they can't do anything about it," said Vernon, who's in the top 10 in the NHL in goals against average. "What they have to do, I guess, is be like the Montreal Expos and go with young guys and develop them. Hopefully they can keep them for quite a while."
Another former Flame on the Sharks, Ron Stern, lamented the situation.
"Canadian teams, especially the smaller market teams, have a tough time," he said. "They want to remain competitive, but have to watch the money and be smart about it.
"Calgary's done a great job of remaining competitive. By all means, they're not a cheap team so it's a matter of making decisions to be economically sane."
However, he said it will be an uphill battle for this year's team without Fleury.
"You just have to look at how many points Theo had. Look at how many one-goal games they won when Theo had one or two points, and it's a huge impact.
"But there's other players in that dressing room who are going to step up ... and hopefully be the next Theo Fleury."