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Hall of Fame character: Fleury continues to share his personal journey in hopes of helping others.

Mike Brophy, Sportsnet.ca, March 2, 2012

Mark Howe is one of the lucky ones.

Each year when the Hockey Hall of Fame's selection committee gathers in late June to debate the merits of potential inductees, the emphasis is on recent retirees. So this year, you'd have to think Joe Sakic, who is now eligible, will be an automatic while others such as Mats Sundin and Brendan Shanahan will be discussed, too.

Every now and then, a player who has been passed over, often more than once, gets the nod.

Last year, it was Mark Howe, the son of a legend and one of the steadiest defencemen to ever skate in the NHL and WHA. It's not as though he somehow got better as a player in the 16 years between his retirement and his induction, but somebody on the committee managed to convince the others that his inclusion with the best that have ever played the game was right and just.

There are others that have been passed over, in this man's opinion, who also deserve reconsideration: Steve Larmer, Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros and Claude Lemieux, to name a few.

And, perhaps more than anybody else, Theoren Fleury.

On the surface, one might think Fleury's record speaks for itself:

— 455 goals and 1,088 points in 1,084 regular season NHL games

— 34 goals and 79 points in 77 NHL playoff games

— IHL championship with the Salt Lake City Eagles in 1987-88

— Stanley Cup championship with the Calgary Flames in 1988-89

— Gold medal with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in 1988

— Gold medal with Team Canada at the Canada Cup in 1991

— Gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City

All of that while beating the odds of being one of the smallest players in the NHL. At 5-foot-6 and 180 pounds. The deck was stacked against Fleury trying to make it in a big man's world.

And size wasn't the only obstacle he faced.

Try alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addition and, worst of all, the deep, dark secret that he had been sexually abused by a man he trusted to do all the right things to get him to the NHL, Graham James.

You think Fleury's off-ice behaviour is a reason to keep him out of the Hall? I say, with all he went through in his life, all those skeletons in his closet are reasons to induct him! This man — a giant in my books — went through hell and all the while accomplished on the ice what so many others only dream about.

So how did he do it?

"I didn't realize this until I first started doing my speaking tours and read a book called Outliers: The Story of Success (by Malcolm Gladwell)," Fleury said. "Basically, what this guy says is, if we want to be the elite of the elite in whatever field we choose, we need to put in 10,000 hours of practice. From the time I was six until I was 16, guess what happened? I put in those 10,000 hours of practice and because of that, when I stepped on the ice, I never had to think because I had gone through every single scenario thousands and thousands of times on the ice. And because I was naturally gifted and had ability and talent, and because I put in all those hours or practice, that is what set me apart from every other small guy who tried to play in the NHL."

Another statistic in his career that stands out is the 1,840 penalty minutes he accumulated. There have been plenty of small, skilled players over the years in the NHL, but few had the combative nature of Fleury. He said he realized early on that, as a tiny player, he needed to find an edge that kept others on their toes.

"There's not a lot of us," Fleury said with a laugh. "There's Mats Naslund, Denis Savard, Dennis Maruk. There's only a handful of guys who really had an impact on the game. I realized in my first year in Moose Jaw when I was 5-foot-2 and 120 pounds and playing against guys that were three times as big as me, in order for me to be able to do what I do on the ice, I needed something different and that was unpredictability. They didn't know whether I was going to cut their eye out or kiss them. Also, not backing down from any confrontation on the ice. If you allow it to happen one time, you're done."

Fleury spends a great deal of his time counseling others that have shared similar experiences to his. It is an on-going fight. Asked what difference it might have made to his career had he not battled booze, dope, gambling and sexual abuse, Fleury was silent for a moment before offering:

"What would I have done? Would I have won another Stanley Cup? Would I have won a scoring title? I don't have any regrets about my life. The lesson that has been learned here is we all have a plan for our life; we all have a purpose for our life. Sometimes we have to go to the depth that I went to in order to figure it out. If you ask any successful person in the world, they will tell you the biggest reason for their success is they have helped other people achieve success. They have inspired people or have given of their time, one-on-one, to teach others how to get through adversity or how to become a great salesman or a great executive. You're not born into that. You need experiences to get to a certain level — to gain awareness."

For Theo Fleury, the battle never ends. He controls what he can and he doesn't dwell in what he cannot control. In my eyes, as well as in the eyes of many others in his life, he doesn't need to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame as an endorsement of his excellence. That said, it sure would be cool.

"It's hard to put into words," Fleury said. "It is the highest honour you can receive as a player — even bigger than Stanley Cups and gold medals. To be recognized by your peers; that not only did you play the game at a certain level, but you carried yourself in a certain way, too.

"I totally understand what people think about me because at the end of my career I wasn't a Hall of Fame guy. But I think over the last six or seven years I have proven to everybody that I am a person of quality and morals and all those things that people seemed to forget. It's something I face everyday on Facebook and Twitter, trying to get rid of that reputation I had at the end (of my career). People think we can't recover; we can't go on to have a peaceful and successful life, but I'm saying, 'No. Nothing is impossible.' "

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."