From the THN Archive: How the 1989 Cup-winning Flames re-framed Jim Devellano's approach to team-building
From the THN Archive: How the 1989 Cup-winning Flames re-framed Jim Devellano's approach to team-building
With the Red Wings in Calgary this afternoon for the third game of their western Canadian swing, why not take a moment to look back on a different era of Flames and Detroit hockey. In this article from 1989, THN's Keith Gave examines the way Red Wings GM Jim Devellano sought to draw inspiration from the Cup-winning Flames.
From the THN Archive: "Wings Plan to Follow Flames' Blueprint" by Keith Gave
June 1, 1989 / Vol. 42, Issue 38
The Calgary Flames’ Stanley Cup championship success has forced Detroit Red Wings’ general manager Jimmy Devellano to re-think his well-worn hypothesis about building a winning hockey club. The only sure way is through the draft, even though it’s the long way, Devellano has preached since he came to Detroit July 12, 1982.
But as he watched the Flames—more than half of whom came to Calgary via trade or free agency—roll through the playoffs, Devellano admitted he has been re-thinking his position a bit. The results could have immediate, far-reaching and presumably similarly successful implications in Detroit.
In other words, look for the Wings to be more aggressive in the trade market. Devellano, an admitted conservative when it comes to trades, is sounding as though he may be willing to take more chances, especially now that his team is coming off a season that fell well below expectations.
Calgary general manager Cliff Fletcher, recognized as one of the best executives in hockey, built a team that has finished first overall in the NHL standings the past two seasons through trades—and excellent scouting that unearthed college free agents, such as Joel Otto and Jamie Macoun, who blossomed in the NHL.
“In effect, we’re trying to copy Calgary,” Devellano said. “I’ve always said the best way is through the draft, but now maybe I have to take a closer look at things, especially after the way they (the Flames) have made some good trades and stockpiled free agents…Of course, Cliff’s had some tremendous assistance from the St. Louis Blues.”
This was a reference to some blockbuster trades that enabled the Flames to get six players from St. Louis, including playoff goal-scoring champ Joe Mullen, premier two-way center Doug Gilmour, former all-star defenseman Rob Ramage and backup goalie Rick Wamsley.
Gilmour, who scored what turned out to be the Cup-winning goal in Game 6 of the finals, almost wasn’t there for such heroics. A Wings’ source confides that Detroit was very close to making a 1-for-l deal with Calgary in January, which would have sent Gilmour to Detroit for troubled left winger Bob Probert.
The Wings were waiting for a call from Fletcher in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was scouting the World Junior Championships. At the time, the Wings were so sure of the deal that coach Jacques Demers waited by the phone as his team practised, certain that he would have to pull Probert off the ice and tell him he had been traded.
The call never came. The Wings assume Flame coach Terry Crisp, who coached Probert in junior hockey with Sault Ste. Marie, nixed the deal.
Speaking of Probert, the former No. 1 enforcer in the NHL was kayoed May 22 by a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit, who refused to reduce the drug charge against Probert from smuggling to possession.
Probert’s attorneys argued he had brought 14.3 grams (about half an ounce) of cocaine from Canada into the United States for personal consumption, and he had no intention of selling the drug to others. The judge didn’t buy the argument, however, saying bringing any amount of drugs across the border for any purpose is smuggling, which carries a 20-year jail term and maximum $1-million penalty if a conviction is entered.
Probert was arrested March 2 on the U.S. side of the Windsor tunnel (henceforth known around Detroit as the Bob Probert Memorial Tunnel), when a strip search by customs officials revealed a vial of cocaine hidden in Probert’s underwear.
His trial is scheduled to begin June 22.
Meanwhile, Probert continued treatment for alcoholism at a substance abuse clinic north of Detroit. In his first public statement since his arrest, Probert told reporters outside the courtroom he “was feeling better about myself’ and progressing well, after earlier difficulties that included leaving the clinic twice to go drinking. That prompted a judge to revoke Probert’s driver’s license and suspend his phone calls and visitation privileges. ■
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