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Friday, February 11, 2000
Messier - last active remnant of the WHA
Mark Messier is one of the few remaining members of the NHL's last great dynasty: the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s.But the 39-year-old captain of the Vancouver Canucks also is the last active link to the World Hockey Association.
"It's the end of a great era," said ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose, Messier's teammate with the 1978-79 Cincinnati Stingers. "I was a little sad when I heard that."
The Stingers, along with the Birmingham Bulls, disappeared into oblivion in June 1979 while four of their WHA brethren -- the Oilers, New England (Hartford) Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets -- were accepted into the NHL under terms of a merger agreement between the two leagues.
But it was teams like the Stingers and, before that, the Indianapolis Racers that gave young players like Messier the chance to prove themselves in the big time.
"He was actually playing Tier II hockey, the St. Albert Saints," said his father-agent Doug Messier. "He was in his third year and he'd gone from 5-11 and 155 (pounds) to 6-1 and 195, and he looked like he was ready for more. But he didn't have a desire to play Tier I (major junior)."
Pat Stapleton, Doug Messier's old friend and former minor-league defence partner, happened to be coaching the Racers, a shaky WHA franchise that had just traded its main drawing card -- a 17-year-old named Wayne Gretzky -- to Edmonton.
"I phoned and asked if he wanted to take a chance on another 17-year-old," recalled the elder Messier, who had been around the sport long enough to know talent when he saw it. "It looked like he was big enough and strong enough to play professional hockey."
Messier played just five games with the Racers before the team folded in December 1978. He returned to Alberta and his old Tier II team, but got a call a month later from the Stingers. He signed a contract for $35,000 -- a far cry from the $6 million US he's making this year with Vancouver -- and headed off to Cincinnati.
Doug Messier remembers only one moment when he wondered whether his son truly was ready. He and his wife showed up at a game against the Whalers, where Mark and his linemates started opposite superstars Gordie Howe, Mark Howe and Dave Keon.
"I thought, 'what the hell did I get this kid into?"' he said with a chuckle. "But Cincinnati actually won the game 2-1. Mark got two assists and Mike Gartner scored two goals."
The Stingers finished fifth out of six teams that season but had plenty of young talent, starting with Mike Liut and Michel Dion in net. Craig Norwich and Melrose were on the blue-line and the forwards included Rick Dudley, Robbie Ftorek, Jamie Hislop, Peter Marsh, Reg Thomas and Gartner. Floyd Smith was behind the bench.
"We had a good team," said Gartner, who's now the NHL Players' Association's director of business relations. "We were roommates together, and you could see that Mark was going to be a player. He had all the tools and all the attributes, even at a very young age."
"He had the whole package," agreed Ftorek, now the head coach of the New Jersey Devils. "When Mark and Garts first came in there, I played centre for them a bit. I remember calling my dad and I said, 'Dad, I've got Gordie Howe on one side and I've got Steve Shutt on the other side.'
"Mess just had that body type, the shoulders and the neck, the size and the speed and the shot, while Garts was just speed personified. You knew that both of them were going to make big splashes in whatever league they were going to be playing in. They were naturals."
Both Messier and Gartner were snapped up in the 1979 NHL entry draft, considered to be the deepest in history. Gartner noted that Messier and Boston Bruins' stalwart Ray Bourque are the only ones left out of that group.
"They really represent the last of our generation of hockey players."
Don Helbig was a teenage fan of the Stingers and retains an almost-encyclopedic memory of the team and its players. Now the vice-president of communications and fan development for the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, Helbig also said it was obvious Messier, who wore No. 27 on his jersey, was going places.
"He was very good on faceoffs," he said. "And they used him to kill penalties. He was the fastest skater out there, he could skate like the wind.
"But he didn't have control yet, everything he did was at about 100 miles an hour. I remember him missing a lot of breakaways. It seemed like every game he had a breakaway, and the puck always sounded good going off the glass."
Helbig remembers the one goal Messier scored all year, combined with 10 assists in 47 games. It was a dump-in as the youngster crossed the red line, on his way to the bench. The puck took a bad bounce and beat a surprised John Garrett in the New England net.
Melrose also recalls the goal, but said there was no indication his young teammate would wind up scoring 700 more during 21 subsequent NHL regular seasons and numerous playoff appearances.
"I'd be lying to you if I told you I thought he was going to be a great player," he said. "He was big, he was strong, but he was 17 years old and he didn't have that work ethic he has now. He was a kid, just out of Tier II hockey.
"He had a lot of physical skills but he was very young and childish at that time. I don't think anyone would have told you he was going to be a Hall of Famer and win six Stanley Cups and be considered one of the great leaders in hockey. But as he got going and started playing, boy, that mental toughness and mental strength really became a part of his game."
Melrose credits the environment Messier wound up in with the Oilers, where Glen Sather molded a group of young kids into world-beaters in just a few short years. He said players like Messier and Gretzky simply had to step up, considering that by age 20 they were already among the oldest players on the team.
"It's very hard for a 17 year old to be a leader when he's with guys like Robbie Ftorek and Rick Dudley, veteran players," Melrose said. "But all of a sudden, he's put in that Edmonton scenario. . . they became the leaders in that group and really grew up together as, I think, the greatest team in hockey."
Doug Messier agreed with that assessment and added there's no reason his son can't continue to play for as long as he wants.
"He's in unbelievable shape right now, and probably healthier than he's been for a long time," he said, adding Mark hasn't discussed retirement with him. "He's still enjoying the game and that's the main thing."
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