Fleury could trigger an avalanche of trading

Sporting News, The, March 15, 1999 by Larry Wigge

The best in the West is synonymous with the best of the best in the NHL. And now the Avalanche have made the first major move of hockey's March trade madness, acquiring Theo Fleury from Calgary along with tough guy Chris Dingman for third-line left winger Rene Corbet, rugged defenseman Wade Belak and future considerations. Now, it's only a matter of time before Detroit and Dallas follow Colorado's lead; because one of these teams will continue the Western Conference's run of three straight Stanley Cup finals sweeps.

Speed kills in the NHL, from the transition from defense to offense, through the neutral zone and into waves of offensive talent in the other team's zone. The Avalanche once again have those dynamics with the acquisition of Fleury, a nasty little pest and one of the league's true game-breakers. Speed? It now starts in Denver, more so than in Detroit or Dallas, and the Avalanche are bound and determined not to let the defending NFL champion Broncos win all the glory in Denver.

"I had to face the Avalanche in the playoffs the last two years when I was in Edmonton," Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph says, "and seeing them add a notorious big-game player like Theo gives them the kind of depth they had up front in 1996 when they won the Stanley Cup.

"The Avalanche now have five of the top players at their position, with Patrick Roy in goal, Sandis Ozolinsh on defense, Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic at center and Theo on right wing."

"Five franchise players?" Red Wings center Steve Yzerman says. "I'd say they have eight of the top 30 players in the game, when you add Claude Lemieux, Valery Kamensky and Adam Foote. They are clearly ready for the stretch run."

We don't mention Phoenix as a favorite in the West, despite the Coyotes' success, because Jim Schoenfeld is not a good playoff coach and, most important, G.M. Bobby Smith is telling folks in the desert that trades before the March 23 deadline "rarely make a difference."

Someone had better remind Smith of Detroit's trade for workhorse defenseman Jamie Macoun last year, the Red Wings' deal for a top-end defenseman like Larry Murphy at the deadline in '97 and Colorado's three big trades for Lemieux, Ozolinsh and Roy in 1995-96.

And the list goes on.

New Jersey picked up center Neal Broten in '95, the Rangers added forwards Glenn Anderson, Stephane Matteau, Brian Noonan and Craig MacTavish in '94 and Pittsburgh won with trades for defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Murphy and center Ron Francis in '91 and added right winger Rick Tocchet in '92.

Montreal's surprise 1993 Cup triumph is the only champion not to make a major move before the stretch run in the last eight years.

"Theo's a sparkplug out there," says an excited Sakic, a guy who rarely gets caught up in the moment. "He's going to be in people's faces, just like Claude. He'll lift fans out of their seats and on our bench with his speed."

Fleury is in the last year of a $2.4 million contract. He recently refused a four-year, $25 million contract Los Angeles offered as part of a trade, saying he wanted to wait until July 1 to test the free-agent market. But don't look at Fleury as a rental.

"Hey," the little 5-6, 160-pound rascal Fleury says, flashing a toothless grin, "things could be pretty good here--and it's only a one-hour, 50-minute flight to my home and friends in Calgary."

"We're talking urgency here, it's not tomorrow or the next day," says Roy, who lost a chance in Montreal to win his fourth Stanley Cup in 1989, when Fleury and the Flames beat them. "When you have guys like Peter, Joe, Claudie, they all know what trading for Theo means for this team."

Says Sharks G.M. Dean Lombardi, "What a power play. That will be a weapon teams won't be able to deal with in the playoffs."

But this shot heard 'round the hockey world is more than just trying to rebuild the '96 champion Avalanche. Mike Ricci, Scott Young and Chris Simon were sacrificial lambs to a team with a low-revenue arena. But that group of gritty players has been surpassed with the injection of Fleury to a group of feisty rookies that includes forwards Chris Drury, Milan Hejduk and Scott Parker.

After an 0-4-1 start, the Avalanche have begun to bond under rookie coach Bob Hartley, even at a time when Ozolinsh was holding out for a new contract and six other defensemen were injured and out for long periods of time.

"Seven defensemen missing--at one time," Joseph says, admiringly. "And yet they came out of this stretch with even more character."

We knew Hartley would have a tough job overcoming the stubborn ways of players such as Roy and Sakic--guys who won in '96 with wave after wave of five-man attacking units and Roy's money goaltending who began to believe they could continue to win with talent and instincts alone.

But the team had lost the defensive discipline and positioning it had before assistant coach Joel Quenneville left to become head coach of the Blues midway through the 1996-97 season.

While allowing for creativity, Hartley has re-instilled Quenneville's penchant for positioning on defense.