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Simmons: Fletcher must be proud

By Steve Simmons, QMI Agency, Nov 13 2011

TORONTO – This is a proud, emotional weekend for Cliff Fletcher: Two of his boys are being inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Twice in his career, Fletcher made terrific team-changing trades for Doug Gilmour, one of them leading to a Stanley Cup win in Calgary, the other leading to the most dazzling and emotional Maple Leafs’ excitement of the past 44 years.

Fletcher came to admire Gilmour’s talents in 1986 when Gilmour almost single-handedly carried the St. Louis Blues to a seven-game series win against a much superior Flames team. It wasn’t in any way coincidental that two years later, Fletcher traded Mike Bullard and others for Gilmour and won his only Cup that first year.

It was different with Joe Nieuwendyk, whose career began under more scrutiny than was probably fair. He was a Flames draft choice, a player chosen with the pick that came from Fletcher’s controversial trading of Kent Nilsson. On draft day 1985, when the Leafs selected Wendel Clark with the first pick in the draft, Toronto chose defenceman Ken Spangler with its first choice in the second round.

Five picks later, Nieuwendyk was selected from Cornell, prompting a Calgary Herald headline of “Joe Who?” The Leafs, with a skeleton scouting staff, had basically the same reaction to Nieuwendyk’s selection. They scoured their draft list after the Flames made the selection but couldn’t find Nieuwendyk’s name anywhere. Truth was: They didn’t know who he was. Nieuwendyk, who scored 51 goals in each of his first two NHL seasons, including the Cup year in Calgary, had a marvellous career and is one of the most respected players in hockey history.

As for Spangler, things didn’t work out so well. He never did play an NHL game.

THIS AND THAT

There must be some bittersweet feelings to Mark Howe’s Hall of Fame induction. He finally gets in, with his father there, but with his longtime defence partner, Brad McCrimmon gone. In 1986, Howe was a ridiculous plus-86 with the Philadelphia Flyers while McCrimmon was plus-83. Next best on that team was Rich Sutter at plus-28. To put this in context, the NHL leader last season was Zdeno Chara at plus-33 … It is really too bad that Pat Burns isn’t part of this Hall of Fame class, even though he has passed away. Burns was Gilmour’s favourite coach and Gilmour was his favourite player … Applications are being accepted now for the Ron Wilson Journalism School. Courses include: Questions you can and can’t ask parents. Nothing is being offered regarding how to kill penalties but if you want, you can major in snarky … When the Leafs signed Ed Belfour as a free agent to replace the very popular Curtis Joseph, the move didn’t exactly go over well with fans. But for two years, they were treated to finest goaltending Toronto had seen post Bower and Sawchuk. The only one who predicted Belfour would thrive in Toronto: The Hall of Famer’s former coach, Ken Hitchcock.

HEAR AND THERE

Phil Kessel probably knows this, or maybe not, but no American has ever led the NHL in scoring. As of Saturday afternoon, NHL scoring looked like an international smorgasbord. The top point-getters were an American, two Swedes, an Austrian and a Slovenian … Kessel also leads the NHL in even-strength points, a statistic I place a lot of value in. Kessel has 18 ESP, way more than the Sedin brothers (10 each), Steven Stamkos (11), Pavel Datsyuk (7), Alex Ovechkin (7) and the impressive Claude Giroux (10) … Some guys just fit certain uniforms. With Ryan Smyth, it’s being back with the Edmonton Oilers. At 35, Smyth is among the league leaders in goal scoring, and hands up, both of you, who saw that coming? … Why I love stats: Because they show Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen with an 11-2 record, a 2.20 goals against average and a .934 save percentage as the best goaltender this season while Roberto Luongo at 6-5-1, 3.14 and .891 as one of the worst.

SCENE AND HEARD

With the passing of Joe Frazier, a thought occurred: Could anybody name the three heavyweights claiming to be world champions today? They are, for those who care, Alexander Povetkin, Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko. The only thing that could draw me back to heavyweight boxing: A Klitschko-Klitschko title match. But no quoting the parents … Some of the politicians who have backed Joe Paterno for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest honours in the United States, have not so quietly withdrawn their support.

WE KNOW HOW THIS ENDS IN THE LONG RUN

There are basically two certainties to every lockout/strike in pro sports history away from the NFL: 1) The players always win; 2) The owners need a system in place to protect themselves from each other. And they, in the end, can’t control themselves. If you look at the NHL today, some six years after the lockout, what’s been solved? There are more teams in trouble than ever before. Players, for the most part, are being handsomely rewarded, you could argue overpaid, for their services. So other than implement rule changes and streamline league business, what was accomplished? If you can play at all in pro sports, you will be compensated beyond your wildest dreams. Take Jose Calderon for example. The average NBA guard is scheduled to earn $9.7 million this season. How can he or any NBA player vote no to that?

WHY DIDN'T HE JUST STOP IT?

You walk in to a dressing room and allegedly witness a grown man raping a young boy in the shower — and you do nothing???

How would you react? Would you not attack the adult in question? Would you not scream, grab, punch, pull hair, do everything in your power to protect the child? And if you don’t, how do you live with yourself? The more we learn about what went on with Jerry Sandusky at and around Penn State University, the more I am troubled by the actions of Mike McQueary, the former quarterback, graduate assistant and now assistant coach on leave from Penn State. Institutional silence is one thing: But where was the human, instinctive, emotional reaction here? McQueary is not the perpetrator, but he could have and should have stopped all of this years ago.

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