Michael Whiteacre
Registered User
Theoren Fleury won a Stanley Cup ring as a teenager in 1989 with the Calgary Flames, and went on to establish himself as a super scoring machine RW over virtually the entire 1990s decade with the team, as Calgary had Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Gary Roberts, Theoren Fleury, Joe Mullen, Sergei Makarov, Al MacInnis, Gary Suter, and later Robert Reichel, Paul Ranheim, German Titov, Cory Stillman, Michael Nylander, Phil Housley, Jarome Iginla, Valeri Bure, Marc Savard and Chris Clark for their key players.
The Calgary Flames also had a good-to-great team going for them in regards to being regular Stanley Cup contenders. Fleury looked like he had several more years left playing at an All-Star caliber level when he was only 30 years old, and was scoring 30 goals + 39 assists for 69 points in 60 games for Calgary during '98-'99 before he suddenly got traded to the Colorado Avalanche for unknown reasons.
However, Colorado had Claude Lemieux, rookie Milan Hejduk, Adam Deadmarsh and Shean Donovan all ahead of Fleury on the Avs' RW depth chart in '98-'99, yet he continued to play at the same star level in Colorado like he did in Calgary, only by scoring 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 15 games, ending a season split between Calgary and Colorado with a total of 40 goals and 53 assists for 93 points in 75 games.
After 1998-99, Fleury never again played at a star level after leaving Colorado in order to become just another one of the casualties by signing a big hefty contract with the New York Rangers, where he abruptly began to fall apart and was never the same star he used to be. His sudden decline was enhanced, yet it had nothing to do with old age or injury as Fleury was only 30-31 when his level of play took a huge nosedive and he didn't have any serious career-altering injuries hurting his level of play on the ice, yet his decline was more enhanced by something other than injury or age than most other NHLers.
But then again, what was the reason (from the perspective of the Flames) as to why the Calgary Flames felt the need to get rid of Theoren Fleury even though he had a good Flames team going for him with Andrew Cassels, Cory Stillman, Michael Nylander, a young Martin St. Louis, veterans Phil Housley and Tom Chorske, and the likes of young stars Valeri Bure, Jarome Iginla and Derek Morris?
And what was the reason (from the perspective of the Avalanche) why the Colorado Avalanche felt the need to make the trade for Theoren Fleury even though Colorado was already stacked at RW with Claude Lemieux, Milan Hejduk, Adam Deadmarsh, Shean Donovan, Jeff Odgers, Christian Matte and Scott Parker?
Prior to getting traded to the Avalanche in '98-'99, Fleury looked like he would play his entire NHL career with the Calgary Flames, and he would be a part of the Flames forever. In fact, the only time Theoren Fleury led the entire NHL in one particular stat was in the plus/minus (+/-) category department in 1990-91, although he was tied with Los Angeles Kings' blueliner Marty McSorley for the lead at a league-leading +/- rating of +48.
The Calgary Flames also had a good-to-great team going for them in regards to being regular Stanley Cup contenders. Fleury looked like he had several more years left playing at an All-Star caliber level when he was only 30 years old, and was scoring 30 goals + 39 assists for 69 points in 60 games for Calgary during '98-'99 before he suddenly got traded to the Colorado Avalanche for unknown reasons.
However, Colorado had Claude Lemieux, rookie Milan Hejduk, Adam Deadmarsh and Shean Donovan all ahead of Fleury on the Avs' RW depth chart in '98-'99, yet he continued to play at the same star level in Colorado like he did in Calgary, only by scoring 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 15 games, ending a season split between Calgary and Colorado with a total of 40 goals and 53 assists for 93 points in 75 games.
After 1998-99, Fleury never again played at a star level after leaving Colorado in order to become just another one of the casualties by signing a big hefty contract with the New York Rangers, where he abruptly began to fall apart and was never the same star he used to be. His sudden decline was enhanced, yet it had nothing to do with old age or injury as Fleury was only 30-31 when his level of play took a huge nosedive and he didn't have any serious career-altering injuries hurting his level of play on the ice, yet his decline was more enhanced by something other than injury or age than most other NHLers.
But then again, what was the reason (from the perspective of the Flames) as to why the Calgary Flames felt the need to get rid of Theoren Fleury even though he had a good Flames team going for him with Andrew Cassels, Cory Stillman, Michael Nylander, a young Martin St. Louis, veterans Phil Housley and Tom Chorske, and the likes of young stars Valeri Bure, Jarome Iginla and Derek Morris?
And what was the reason (from the perspective of the Avalanche) why the Colorado Avalanche felt the need to make the trade for Theoren Fleury even though Colorado was already stacked at RW with Claude Lemieux, Milan Hejduk, Adam Deadmarsh, Shean Donovan, Jeff Odgers, Christian Matte and Scott Parker?
Prior to getting traded to the Avalanche in '98-'99, Fleury looked like he would play his entire NHL career with the Calgary Flames, and he would be a part of the Flames forever. In fact, the only time Theoren Fleury led the entire NHL in one particular stat was in the plus/minus (+/-) category department in 1990-91, although he was tied with Los Angeles Kings' blueliner Marty McSorley for the lead at a league-leading +/- rating of +48.
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