In 1999, the Calgary Flames came to a crossroads with winger Theo Fleury. The Hockey News' Feb. 12, 1999, edition profiled the forward and the factors that ended his time with the Flames.

As the NHL’s trade deadline draws closer, the Calgary Flames are expected to be an active seller team. And in this major story from The Hockey News’ Feb. 12, 1999 edition – Vol. 52, Issue 22 – writer Bob McKenzie wrote about the Flames and their soon-to-be-traded star winger Theo Fleury.

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Fleury had been an integral part of the Flames’ Stanley Cup-winning success in 1989. And 10 years after that victory, he was still a key producer of offense for Calgary, scoring at least 30 goals in seven of his 11 seasons with the franchise. On Feb. 19, 1999, he produced his 823rd career regular-season point with the Flames, passing icon defenseman Al MacInnis as the franchise’s scoring leader, but contract negotiations for an extension did not pan out to Fleury’s satisfaction. On Feb. 28, he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a package including Robyn Regehr, Wade Belak and Rene Corbet. However, the Avs also could not get Fleury’s signature on a new contract, and he went to the UFA market the following off-season.

“I’ve waited this long (for free agency),” Fleury said to McKenzie at the time of the story’s publication. “Why not wait for the summer?”

A Western Canada kid, Fleury had been rumored to be intent on staying in the Western Conference on his new deal. Intriguingly, the team that wound up signing Fleury initially was publicly pessimistic about landing him.

“From the sound of it, he’d prefer to stay in the West,” said Rangers’ GM Neil Smith. “I’ve talked with (Flames GM) Al (Coates), but it’s going to be tough (to trade) if there’s no new contract.”

Fleury signed with the Rangers on a three-year, $21-million contract. He played all three seasons in Manhattan before one final campaign as a Chicago Blackhawk, but Fleury had long prior established himself as one of the game’s best physically smaller men. While the Flames might have wanted to keep Fleury with the team for his entire career, in the end, Calgary management had been backed into a corner contractually, and there was little else that had to be said. Fleury’s time with the Flames came to an end, and there was no hometown discount or miracle that would keep him around.

“I don’t know what else to say,” Coates said prior to Fleury’s trade. “I mean, really, what else is there to say?”

FLEURY TRADE NO SIMPLE FEAT

Vol. 52, No. 22, Feb. 12, 1999

By Bob McKenzie

There were 54 Theo Fleury shopping days left and Calgary Flames’ GM Al Coates could only heave a sigh.

“I don’t know what else to say,” Coates said Jan. 28, 54 days before the March 23 trade deadline. “I mean, really, what else is there to say?”

“Who knows what’s going to happen?” Fleury said himself a day earlier.

Well, if the unrestricted free-agent in-waiting doesn’t know, no one does. Because it’s Fleury who holds the key to the most talked-about issue this season in the NHL. That is, whether he will be traded to any one of as many as 10 teams before the deadline.

Montreal Canadiens’ right winger Mark Recchi is in the same situation as Fleury. So is New York Rangers’ defenseman Brian Leetch. But the question hasn’t dogged them every step of the way this season like it has for the dynamic, elf-like Flame. And now, it’s getting down to crunch time for Fleury and the Flames.

Wouldn’t it be something if, after all that talk, all those trade rumors, Fleury finished this season as a Flame? It could happen. And it will happen, if the little right winger wants it to.

Let’s review the situation:

Calgary’s first choice would be to re-sign Fleury, who had 23 goals and 51 points in 47 games, to a long-term contract that would see him end his career for the NHL team with which he started. But playing in a small market, the Flames realize that’s not likely to happen when serious suitors such as the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars, not to mention the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres and maybe even the St. Louis Blues or Washington Capitals line up.

Hence the trade talk. Calgary would rather get something for Fleury before the deadline than nothing for him in the summer when he’s free to choose a new team. But it’s the 30-year-old Fleury himself who has effectively chilled his own trade market with talk he’s not likely to sign a new long-term contract with any team that might deal for him before the deadline.

“I’ve waited this long (for free agency),” is Fleury’s line. “Why not wait for the summer?”

Complicating matters is his personal situation. His wife, Veronica, is pregnant and due in April, so a change of address in late March isn’t ideal. He has an 11-year-old son, Josh, from a previous relationship. He’s not keen on being an absentee father. Travel and ease of access will be issues when he ultimately decides on his new locale.

“He’ll be in his teenage years,” Fleury said of Josh. “I’d like to see him as much I can, have as much involvement in his life as his mom.”

These aren’t dealbreakers, but they are obstacles.

“From the sound of it, he’d prefer to stay in the West,” said Rangers’ GM Neil Smith, who had to like the I look of Fleury, and Recchi for that matter, playing alongside Rangers center Wayne Gretzky in the NHL All-Star Game. “I’ve talked with Al (Coates), but it’s going to be tough (to trade) if there’s no new contract.”

No team, however much Fleury might elevate its contender status, is going to part with a quality young prospect and significant draft choice(s) for an unrestricted free agent who intends to go shopping in the summer.

And it’s difficult to imagine a contender “renting” Fleury for the balance of this regular season and playoffs because it would cost the club something more than a second round pick. That’s what the Flames are virtually guaranteed to get for Fleury as a compensatory draft pick if he signs elsewhere this summer.

The best the Flames can hope for is there’s a gambling club out there which believes acquiring Fleury now will give it a leg up in negotiations later on. Or maybe a club which can cut a tentative trade deal with the Flames will be successful in pushing the right buttons to buy Fleury out of his free agency and lock him up long-term before March 23.

It would probably have to be a special offer.

Money is obviously a factor. If Doug Gilmour got $6 million a year last summer, and Pavel Bure tops out at $9.5 million per year now, Fleury’s price will saw off somewhere in the middle.

But there’ll have to be more than money. Term will be vital. Three or four years, with an option for a fourth or fifth, will be required.

Team will be important. It has to be a squad on the way up, not necessarily the top contender, but one which has a shot at playoff advancement in Fleury’s time there.

Coach may be most important. In Brian Sutter, Fleury has finally found a soul mate. It means a lot to Fleury that his Flames’ coach played the game.

Don’t underestimate this factor or his role on the team. Theo needs to feel important.

Then there’s geography. Preferably, it’ll be a western club with direct flights to Calgary and Fleury’s son. A team would do well to ease Fleury’s fears of not seeing his son by offering to fly Josh in any time it’s required.

Because, when it’s all said and done, if the contract offer in March isn’t so overwhelming as to blow Fleury away, then it’s elementary.

He’ll merely wait until July 1 and, in doing so, kill the trade market he fueled all season.

Where he ends up-before the deadline or in the summer-is anybody’s guess. So here’s one, and it’s nothing more or less than a guess: the San Jose Sharks.

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