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Tuesday, March 2, 1999
Just like home
Fleury's fitting in just fine in the Mile High City
"Oh, there's a real possibility," blurts Theoren Fleury, when asked about the possibility of signing here in the off-season. "Hey, the flight's only an hour and 50 minutes from Calgary.
"This is a great situation for me, especially looking at it a full day after the deal was done. I have a lot of loyalty to teams that show faith in me and the Avalanche did that when they traded for me."
It's 5:10 p.m., less than two hours before game time, Theoren Fleury's debut in the new colours. But Fleury, outfitted in a Avalanche windbreaker, is outside the curtain leading into the Colorado dressing room, talking to a couple of old Calgary acquaintances and enjoying the chat.
"What was the reaction like at home?" he asks.
Tumultuous, he's told.
"I'll bet. My wife was on the internet last night, and I guess people were pretty steamed up."
Here, in Calgary South, the news of Fleury's arrival was greeted with an overwhelming sense of indifference. The Rocky Mountain News ran a front page photo of Joe Sakic and Fleury at the Denver airport, but the Denver Post just threw to coverage in the sports section with a mug shot of Fleury on its front page.
The reaction was far more subdued than the wailing and gnashing of teeth that went on in Calgary.
"Didn't you hear?" half-joked a Saddledome regular, as word of Fleury's trade began to filter around the building on Sunday morning. "JFK's been shot!"
While that's a bit of a stretch, obviously, the peddling of Fleury at this time hit a lot of people in Calgary in the pit of their stomach.
Fleury exhaled slowly, shook his head. "Man, so much s--- has happened in the last 24 hours ... it's hard to take it all in. Even the press conference in Calgary seems like a long, long time ago."
Avalanche captain Sakic met Fleury at the airport Sunday night, along with a gaggle of TV cameramen and reporters. The two buddies then stopped off at Santino's, a restaurant Sakic, a few other Avalanche players and Colorado Rockies' slugger Larry Walker have sunk money into, and talked the night away.
"He told me how much I was going to like it here," said Fleury. "And so far it's been awesome. When I stepped off the plane last night, the PR man said 'That'll be the last commercial flight you take this year.' I said `Awwwwwright!' And, get this, then they wanted to register me at the hotel under an assumed name.
"I said 'C'mon, are you kiddin' me?' "
Fleury admitted to being a bit quizzical as to his emotions for his Avalanche unveiling. Like his first NHL game, perhaps?
"No, I don't think anything compares with that. I don't know how I'll feel, to tell you the truth.
While Fleury's immediate concerns are here, his long-range worries are for the team; the franchise; he just left.
"I think it's the responsibility of all the players and owners to work something out (for small-market Canadian teams). Calgary is a great hockey town, whether it was right or not (to let him go) ...
"They just didn't want to pay the money. All the owners make a ton of money in the oil business and if they try to run it that way ... so be it.
"But down the road, something has to be done."
While Calgary is an organization of tomorrows, the gluttonously-talented Avs are living for the moment.
"The fans in Calgary will only put up with it for so long. Geez, when Pierre came they decided to go with youth, then halfway through the year they brought in a bunch of veterans, we took a run at the playoffs and made it. Then the next year, they were back with the kids again.
"Here, the attitude is so different from Calgary. And I'm not saying one way is right and the other wrong. But here, every morning skate is optional. Here, they want players to do what they do best. Look after your own end, yeah, but once the puck is the blueline, go with it. In Calgary, Brian really cracks the whip and I guess he has to, with all the young players. But it wears on the older guys, although I must say he was better about it lately, giving me practices off.
"But here, the emphasis is on being prepared to play. I never expected so much talent and depth."
That talent, that depth, should allow the little fella to shine arguably as never before.
He won't get the ice time he did in Calgary -- he had 6:27 of playing time in the first period last night -- but with linemates the likes of Sakic and Valeri Kamensky, the sky should be the limit.
"Playing with guys like this makes the game easy," says Fleury. "They're going to get you the puck at the right time, and vice-versa.
"I think," he adds, then pauses, "no, I know this is going to fun."