RENT to OWN

Sporting News, The, Dec 6, 1999 by Larry Wigge

The Flyers and Sharks gambled when they acquired potential free agents Mark Recchi and Vincent Damphousse last March. Now, the moves are paying off handsomely for both teams.

As he approaches his appointed locker-room position, Theo Fleury stops short. He has a quizzical look on his wide, toothless face. Then he begins laughing as heartily as someone who has just seen Jay Leno take him apart in a comedy routine.

"Look at that," Fleury roars. "Where's Gretzky? I'll get him for this."

Taped over the number on Fleury's All-Star jersey is a dollar Sign.

Mark Recchi, seated a couple of places away from Fleury says, "Hey, I got one, too."

"It's from the Wayne Gretzky Rent-a-Winger Co.," jokes Eric Lindros.

As Gretzky's All-Star Game linemates, Fleury and Recchi helped him win the MVP award. They also were leading men--and contrasting models--in the NHL's rite of spring as teams looking for over-the-top playoff help trade prospects and draft picks for potential free agents. The risk is significant because there is no guarantee the player will be anything more than a two- or three-month rental, but recent history shows the gambles are often worth it.

"You have to be careful or you could really get burned," Stars G.M. Bob Gainey says.

But while there are memorable examples of teams getting scorched--the Blues with Wayne Gretzky, the Sharks with Ed Belfour and the Caps with Rich Tocchet--more rent-a-players have stayed with their new teams and been successes in the long run.

Adding Patrick Roy helped the Avalanche win the 1996 Stanley Cup. Defenseman Larry Murphy, obtained just before the playoffs in 1997, proved to be a masterstroke for the Red Wings on their way to two straight Stanley Cups. And the acquisition of center Stu Barnes helped the Sabres get to the finals last spring.

"You don't win unless you're willing to take a chance," Red Wings G.M. Ken Holland says. "You have to pay a price for success."

The lesson to be learned is not to stay away from risks, but, rather, do your homework, check out the player, make sure you and he are compatible.

That's what the Flyers did with Recchi and the Sharks did with center Vincent Damphousse last spring, acquiring them in Wades, then signing them to big contracts ($25 million over five years for Recchi, $15 million over four years for Damphousse) before they became free agents. They dearly have helped the Flyers and Sharks become the rent-to-own success stories of the season. On the other hand, Fleury left Colorado--which had acquired him last spring but soured on him after he scored only five goals in 18 playoff games--for the Rangers' big bucks. Things haven't worked well for Fleury or the Rangers, who were doomed by signing too many players from different systems. Ultimately, this chemistry experiment will cost coach John Muckler his job.

Damphousse was flying at about 40,000 feet, somewhere over the Dakotas, when the trading deadline ended last March 23. He didn't know that he had been traded to San Jose until the Canadiens' flight touched down in Edmonton.

The Sharks arranged for him to take the charter flight back to Montreal, where he could pack a few bags and head to Toronto to join his new team for a game the next night. The connection was an immediate success--Damphousse scored two goals in an 8-5 victory over the Maple Leafs and created an instant spark for what then was the next-to-last offense in the NHL.

"In Montreal, they wrote me off because I no longer came close to the 90 points I had for the Canadiens four seasons there," Damphousse says. "That wasn't my fault. Alain Vigneault took me off the power play (in 1997-98) because he wanted me to concentrate solely on stopping the other team's best center. The Sharks, however, told me there were no handcuffs. They told me to be creative. They gave me a new life."

Damphousse, 31, produced seven goals and six assists in 12 games with the Sharks after the trade, then played well in the playoffs (three goals and two assists in six games). In his first 37 regular-season games with San Jose, Damphousse collected 36 points. That's the same amount he produced in 65 games with the Canadiens before the trade last season.

Damphousse remembers the 1992-93 season fondly. Not only did he earn a Stanley Cup ring as a Canadien and score a career-high 97 points, he was on a line with Mike Keane and Stephan Lebeau. Damphousse considered them the best linemates he ever had--until now.

With the Sharks, Damphousse centers a line with Jeff Friesen and Owen Nolan, and the three have been tearing it up. All three rank in the NHI's top 10 in scoring. "It's a good mix," coach Darryl Sutter says. "A real proven guy (Damphousse), a young guy still searching to be as good as he can be (Friesen) and another guy trying to get back to where he was (Nolan)."

G.M. Dean Lombardi smiles a lot these days. Even though he knows it's a challenge to go from 80 points to 90, you can hear the optimism in his voice about where the Sharks fit in the strong Western Conference.