It seems that Theo Fleury might just be on his way to cracking the lineup of the Calgary Flames. He has 3 points in 3 games, in pre-season not including an overtime winner against the Isles.
He’s been sober for 4 years, and hired a personal trainer to get him in shape over the past year. He really did not want to go out at a low point - a drunken brawl and getting punted from the league.
It was nice to see the fans cheering him, and the look on his face when he scored the overtime goal.
So… Does he have a shot? He’s 41 and has not played in the NHL for 6 years… Still one of the shortest in the league. But he’s got grit, and Calgary was always the place he loved.
It would be nice to see him do well. He was always pretty gritty and his height didn’t work against him much with the old rules so the new style of play should suit him if his skating is up to par. It’s been a strange journey. I thought we’d seen the last of him when he went to play in Ireland.
I’m rooting for him, just because it’s such an interesting story; like in movies, where he gets a chance to truly redeem himself. I’m not really familiar with the Flames and their prospects, but I did read something earlier today (TSN maybe?) that suggested that Fleury was having a better camp than many, and that if he were 20 years younger he’d have a spot on the roster already.
I always liked Fleury and I’ll be pulling for him. I didn’t know how many problems he’d had at the end of his career. It’ll only make it sweeter if this does work out.
Three players (Backlund, Sutter and Pelech) were sent down to the minors yesterday, leaving 28 players on the roster. Some more cutting to go, but Fleury still hangs in there!
I love this story! Although Sutter (coach, not player), has given some subtle indications that Fleury may not stick around. After all, if he does make the squad, that leaves off a young player who may benefit from future development this season.
Looking at it from a fan/ticket sales/marketing perspective though - this would be a goldmine.
[QUOTE=Sutter]
Our agreement with Theoren was that he had to be one of our top six wingers and there were never any intentions of assigning him to the American Hockey League.
[/QUOTE]
as it is, even with Theo’s departure, it’s hard to choose which of the remaining forwards to cut. it’s unfortunate, but this was a really poor year for him to tryout - the flames are too deep.
i think this leaves the starting lineups to look something like this:
Reading that quote from the coach, it seems like he was kind of set up to fail, wasn’t he? They knew he couldn’t meet the expectations they laid out, so they benefited from the feel-good media and cut him at the (nearly) last minute. It’s too bad, because 4 points in 4 games is better than a lot of “top six” wingers have achieved in this pre-season so far on other teams!
[imagination time] If this were a TV movie, some other underdog team (Coyotes? hehehe) would scoop him up for pennies, then end up facing the Flames in the Cup Finals (yeah yeah, tthey’re in the same conference, I know!..Conference Finals, then!) and Fleury would score the winning goal with 0.01 seconds left to go in the third! Then everyone would cheer and he’d be carried around the rink on his teammates’ shoulders and everyone would live happily ever after, except for the Evil Sutter Brothers (I don’t actually think they are evil!), who did everything possible to trip Fleury up, who would have to live with the constant reminders how they were beat by the Little Big Guy. [/imagination time]
Come to think of it, I may have seen that movie once…!
