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The Collector

Sunday, January, 14, 2024

Give 'em their Flowers

Quick, name some active NHL goaltenders who are definitely going to the Hall of Fame. Off the top of my head I had four: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Sergei Bobrovsky, Igor Shesterkin, and his backup in New York.. Jonathan Quick.

Now, name five all-time great goaltenders of the 21st century. Go.
Martin Brodeur, of course. Dominik Hasek was still a beast in the early aughts. Henrik Lundqvist (more frickin Rangers?!?), Roberto Luongo, and um...  Pekka Rinne?

Those would have been my lists until recently. One goaltender has been flying under my radar for about 20 years. Only when I cross-checked my hockey card wantlist and saw who was missing did I ask myself: Is Marc-Andre Fleury a Hall of Famer?

Within 24 hours of realizing I was missing this card for the 'uncommon' tier of my 2003-04 Topps Pristine set build, Fleury -- nicknamed "Flower" -- tied Patrick Roy for second on the NHL's all-time wins list.

551 wins, a Vezina trophy, three Stanley Cup rings, five trips to the Final (including one memorable run with the Golden Knights in their inaugural season), 73 shutouts in over 1,000 NHL games, and an Olympic gold medal with team Canada isn't just a Hall of Fame resume. It's most likely a first ballot entry for the first overall pick in 2003.

How could I possibly have forgotten Fleury? Well, I'm getting old. I'm not paying as much attention to every team in the league because I have less access to the games than I used to (thanks, ESPN+), and I simply forgot he was still playing, sharing netminding duties with (I had to look this up) Filip Gustavsson in Minnesota. Neither of them are playing particularly well. But, to be fair...




Flower is the oldest goalie in the league. Heck, he's the third oldest player in the league, trailing only Mark Giordano and Joe Pavelski(who probably deserves his own appreciation post). Like Adrian Beltre and Frank Gore in other sports, his place among the all-time greats at his position simply caught me by surprise.

I only truly appreciated Fleury when he left Pittsburgh and became the de facto captain in Vegas - and even then I couldn't root for him in the Final because the Knights were standing in the way of Washington's first Cup. Even if he has an Adam Wainwright-like struggle to get one more win he will still be second all-time with 552 NHL victories. And he'll get there with far less fanfare than this guy.



For the generation of hockey fans before mine, there's only one Flower -- Guy Lafleur:


 
 
While I never saw Lafleur play I certainly understood what a legendary player he was in the 1970s and '80s: five Stanley Cups as a key member of the Montreal dynasty, six consecutive 50-goal seasons, three consecutive scoring titles, and two Hart trophies as NHL MVP. An all-time great to be sure. But the two most fascinating things about "The Flower" in my mind happened before his NHL career began, and after it appeared to be over.

For those of you who aren't hockey fans, imagine a godawful franchise like the Athletics(sorry Fuji) or Pistons. They're totally bereft of talent and in desperate need of a young superstar to lift the franchise out of the doldrums. Now imagine that team is so short-sighted and incompetent that they trade their first round pick to the league's most powerful franchise. 
 
That happened in 1970 when Charlie Finley's California Golden Seals swapped first round picks with the defending Stanley Cup champion Canadiens. Montreal GM Sam Pollock knew another French-Canadian star was about to arrive, and he fleeced the Seals for the likely 1st overall pick. Then when it looked like Los Angeles might 'drop' to #1, Pollock traded two solid NHL players to the Kings to help them finish higher than the Seals, just so he could secure Lafleur.

What might have been..

Lafleur retired in 1984 as the Montreal dynasty was seemingly in the rear view. (The Habs won another Cup in 1986) In 1988, Guy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame - his first year of eligibility. That summer, he decided he wasn't done and returned to the NHL as a New York Ranger.


An active player who was already in the Hall of Fame?!? It was unfathomable to me when I pulled his Nordiques cards in 1990-91, though it would happen again with Mario Lemieux a decade later.

Guy was the one player missing from my 1970s Canadiens collection until I added this 1976-77 Topps card in a fleury of year-end TCDB trades:


I might fill out the roster a bit but the collection is complete for now.

Since this is an NFL playoff weekend I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge another Lafleur:


Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has his team in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. He racked up an astounding 39 wins in his first three seasons, becoming the first head coach with three 12+ win seasons to start his career. If you read that Instagram post you may have noticed how many haters wanted to give the credit for that achievement to Aaron Rodgers - the same Rodgers who couldn't get it done against the Lions in the season finale last year, costing the Packers a playoff spot.

LaFleur did his best to manage Rodgers' insatiable ego, and when the Packers finally parted ways with their iconic quarterback, many predicted a long rebuild for the youngest squad in the NFL.
 

Instead LaFleur has his team back in the playoffs, facing the Dallas Cowboys in a matchup of passers with the top two touchdown totals in the NFL. Meanwhile Rodgers is making vague threats against comedians on Pat McAfee's show. But sure, Matt LaFleur owes all of his success to that guy. Okayyy. 

Regardless of tonight's outcome, the Packers have a bright future with young stars on both sides of the ball. It won't be long before Jordan Love, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Luke Musgrave, Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, and Quay Walker reach their potential and lead the Packers back to prominence. And it will be under the tutelage of the most underrated head coach in the game. 


Thanks for reading, and Go Pack Go!



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