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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: Fleury back with Rangers | ||||
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| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 09-05-2001 @ 8:15 AM |    | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00  | Six months after he placed his trust in them, Theo Fleury got his life's work back from the doctors who run the NHL/NHLPA Behavioral and Substance Abuse Program yesterday morning. A doubly joyous day for Fleury that included his hitting the ice for the opening of the Canadian Olympic orientation camp began with the news that the Rangers winger had been cleared to resume his NHL career by program directors Drs. David Lewis and Brian Shaw. While the official announcement was merely a formality given the progress Fleury has made in recent months, it nevertheless represented another significant step in his dealing with the long-running problem that caused him to leave the Rangers and seek professional help last Feb.28. Fleury was in the middle of an impressive season on the ice when his relapse occurred. With 30 goals and 44 assists in 62 games, he was vying with junior hockey buddy Joe Sakic for the league scoring title and had won over Garden fans after an ineffective debut season with the Rangers. However, following a Feb.26 home game, Fleury succumbed to the substance-abuse problem for which he already was undergoing counseling under the auspices of the NHL/NHLPA program. Because he voluntarily sought help, he was not suspended. However, he had to complete a lengthy in-patient therapy stint at a Southern California rehab center and had to attend regular meetings with counselors throughout the summer in order to remain in compliance with the program's rules. He did so by spending the summer in New Mexico in order to be near his sponsor. And he did so by finally confronting the demons that have plagued him ever since he grew up in meager surroundings in rural Manitoba with parents battling addictions of their own. And he did so after venturing off to play junior hockey for a coach (Graham James) who later was convicted of molesting some of his players. "I feel great," Fleury said recently. "I've had a very productive and rewarding summer. ... Obviously, I felt that it was time for me to deal with some issues that I needed to deal with. And obviously, the NHL and NHLPA's program is a great program and I've basically done what I needed to do to get better. "I'm not saying it's been easy. It's a day-to-day thing and it will continue to be that way. But I do have a great support system in place that I've been working with all summer long. And I feel really good about what I've done and where I've been and where I'm going." Where Fleury was going yesterday was to the rink at the University of Calgary to join three dozen countrymen at Canada's four-day Olympic "orientation" camp. Among the players with whom he'd be skating, golfing and doing some preliminary team building was another Rangers comeback kid, Eric Lindros. Returning to the NHL after missing all of last season following his sixth concussion and a contract-related standoff with the Philadelphia Flyers, Lindros has been skating regularly for the last 11 months. He also skated with new Rangers teammates Brian Leetch, Mike Richter and Manny Malhotra for a couple of days after being acquired from the Flyers on Aug.20. Yesterday, however, marked Lindros' first formal workout with fellow NHLers since Devils defenseman Scott Stevens felled him with an open-ice hit in Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference finals. | ||||
| NYR2119935 | posted on 09-06-2001 @ 7:49 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: May. 00 | LET"S GO RANGERS!!!! CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA | ||||
| skydiver | posted on 09-07-2001 @ 5:43 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01 | It's going to be hard to root for them this year!! I HATE Lindros and now he's with the team. I was debating on making my second payment for my season tix just because of that TOOL! Needless to say, I'm a diehard and went and coughed up the cash. Watching him is going to be like watching LaFontaine when he was with them. Just waiting for the hit that'll finish him for good. Only difference is, I liked Patty L. and I don't think too many people would give an F if Lindros had never played again. | ||||
| PeterDragon | posted on 09-07-2001 @ 9:06 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | skydiver, Just wait. Today in NY Daily News John Dellapina said Sather is interested in Bryan Berard, who is considering returning despite his serious eye injuries.  | ||||
| darthziggy Isles fan for life | posted on 09-07-2001 @ 11:50 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Aug. 00 | dragon, you serious? he took the retirement money already, i think he's done. and anyway, is the first devs-rangers game of the year gonna be free beer nite in honor of daneyko and fleury? ;) lmmfao rangers suck!  darthziggy@opieanthony.com I'm off to Franklin Pierce College in September. Go Ravens! LET'S GO ISLANDERS | ||||
| PeterDragon | posted on 09-08-2001 @ 12:03 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | DZ, I kid you not. Rangers Giving Sather Reasons to Be Cheerful By JOHN DELLAPINA Daily News Sports Writer CALGARY hile peering down upon the progress of Eric Lindros and Theo Fleury during yesterday morning's Canadian Olympic workout, Glen Sather offered a pre-training camp state-of-the-Rangers address. Among the topics the GM touched on were the conditions of a couple of other comeback kids — Mike Richter and Bryan Berard — and the progress of negotiations aimed at re-signing center Petr Nedved. Regarding Nedved, a restricted free agent who remains unsigned with training camp opening Wednesday: "I'd like to re-sign him. And I've said to them that I would do a one-, two- or three-year deal provided that the deal is based around the conditions that the team does well and he does well." Rangers GM Glen Sather was rather candid with his remarks toward the 2000-2001 Rangers, including unsigned restricted free agent Petr Nedved. On whether Nedved would be welcome at camp without a contract: "I won't have a pro at training camp unless he's on a tryout trying to earn a job or a kid trying to earn his first contract. But a veteran player who's in a contract-negotiating stance, no. Either you're going to be under contract or you're not at training camp." quote: On Richter, who has been sharp at Team USA's camp this week, and whether the Rangers need to acquire another veteran goalie: "I think Mike is real strong. I don't have an urgent mission to go out and find a veteran goaltender right now. "Really, it depends on Mike." On what he has seen so far from Lindros, who set up another goal in a scrimmage yesterday with a dazzling no-look pass to Mike Peca: "He's been everything I'd hoped for, I'll tell you that. Eric has been upbeat. He's been positive. He's worked hard. He's in great shape. His family, everything has been great." On Fleury, who is coming back from relapse into substance abuse: "I think he's in good shape, he looks good, he's skating well. "It's difficult to tell how somebody is dealing with something like this — I never had any real sense that he was having problems last year during the year and I talked to him a lot. "But I did get a feeling that he had a certain calmness about him when I met with him in July. It seemed like there was a calmness around him that maybe wasn't there before." | ||||
Displaying 1-6 of 6 messages in this thread. |