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October 09, 2002
Fleury Suspended Again: On the
Fleury Suspended Again: On the eve of the opening of the 2002-03 NHL season, Chicago Blackhawks winger Theo Fleury has been suspended indefinitely for violating the terms of his substance abuse aftercare program. The exact terms of the violation were not disclosed. Fluery, who signed a two-year $8.5 million contract with the Hawks this Summer, has been suspended without pay. You can hardly blame the Blackhawks, who Fluery has put over a serious barrel with this latest suspension. Fluery was brought in specifically to replace the scoring that was lost when Tony Amonte signed a free agent contract with Phoenix. Now, the team will be left scrambling, as it has also lost high scoring winger Eric Daze to an injury as well. As for Theo the person, the prognosis isn't much better. As we know, last week Fluery missed two straight Blackhawks practices without explanation, and then returned to say that he was distraught over his father's health woes. Now we find out about this -- and the only conclusion one can draw is that Fleury had a relapse. What a shame. And every time I hear more, I become more fearful that this story is going to have an unhappy ending. Earlier this week, Steven Ovadia of Puck Update put it best when he said this: I saw CHANGING LANES this weekend, and there's a great scene where William Hurt, who plays recovering alcoholic Samuel L. Jackson's sponsor, lashes out at Jackson, telling him that he's not addicted to alcohol, but that he's addicted to chaos. That's Fleury in a nut-shell. Why not tell your employers where you are? Why not tell the media? Why create a whole controversy when you have a legitimate reason to miss a couple of practices? Because in Fleury's world, it's somehow easier to create storms than it is to do the sensible thing. Even though we know now that Fleury had something to hide, I think Steven's words ring just as true. Here's hoping Fleury isn't swallowed up by all the chaos he's created. UPDATE: Here's the Chicago Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom On Theo situation: The Blackhawks thought this was a better idea than Tony Amonte? The talent evaluators at 1901 W. Madison St. thought it was smarter to refuse to meet the asking price of the player with the longest active consecutive-games streak and instead commit $8.5 million and a spot at right wing on the first line to a guy who can't show up for work two weeks in a row? Hawks general manager Mike Smith couldn't wait to run off the team's most popular player so he could snap up an unreliable, recidivist substance abuser whom Smith and coach Brian Sutter seemed to consider one of the top two free agents out there? Sorry, but I couldn't connect those dots when the Hawks signed Theo Fleury in August, and I certainly can't now, now that Fleury has been suspended for violating his substance-abuse aftercare program.
Eric
12:00 AM
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