Word Association with Theo Fleury

When you think Flames vs. Kings it's hard not to conjure up an image of Theo Fleury.

He brought more passion to a single game of hockey than some players bring in an entire season. Over multiple teams in a career that lasted more than 1,000 games in the NHL, he epitomized the line 'You hate him, unless he's on your team - then you love him.'

There's no denying his success on the ice. He finished his career with 455 goals, hoisted the Stanley Cup and won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada.

Just hours before the Kings play another critical game in Calgary tonight, I had the honor of speaking with Theo about a variety of topics, including several of his projects away from the game of hockey.

Of course, we often found our way back to the NHL though.

Regarding some of those legendary contests back in the late '80s, early '90s, Theo was quick to point out "I loved playing at the Great Western Forum, especially after they acquired Gretzky. The atmosphere was always electric, even though many people there didn't like me."

Flipping the tables a bit, I asked which NHL players he likes in today's game. Fresh off the NHL All-Star Draft last weekend, what would Team Theo look like?

"Marc-Andre Fleury, my brother from another mother, would be in goal. Shea Weber and Duncan Keith on defense. Up front, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, paired with Jarome Iginla."

Still loyal to the Flames after all these years.

Although it provided a perfect transition for us to talk about the persistent rumors that Iginla might be traded soon. It's a business - something Fleury knows having been traded himself (he says he never wanted to leave Calgary, but there were money issues) - so, while he knows it's a possibility, he just doesn't envision a scenario where Iginla gets moved. Even more so, he's insistent that Iginla deserves to retire someday having spent his entire career with the Flames.

Finally, we played word association...

Lanny McDonald - class
Gary Bettman -interesting
Tomas Sandstrom - hard to play against
Luc Robitlaille - great hands
Kelly Buchberger - little talent, hell of a career
Sandy McCarthy - best friend
Sean Avery - different
Eric Lindros - strong
Mark Messier - leadership
Ryan Smyth - pain in the ass

I hope to have Theo back on for an extended conversation before the Flames come to Los Angeles next month.

Until then, check out his book Playing With Fire. He lays it all out there and takes readers inside the mind one of the most intriguing players to ever grace a sheet of ice.

The Mayor
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RELATED ARTICLES:

Interview with Kerry Fraser - tells a very raw and emotional story about Fleury as a NY Ranger

LA Kings Players on Calgary Captain Jarome Iginla

Revisiting a Rivalry - Kings vs. Flames

Interview with Kelly Buchberger

Interview with Shea Weber

NHL All Star Game Mock Draft with Anze Kopitar

In a little less than an hour hockey fans everywhere will be treated to something truly unique.

This year's NHL All Star teams will be selected by Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings) and Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes) in a live television draft.

The pre-event storylines are abundant - will the Sedin twins be slit up? Will teammates, like Pittsburgh's Kris Letang and Marc Andre Fleury, end up on separate sides? Will Staal take fellow Hurricanes Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner? Will Lidstrom draft a heavy-Western Conference team?

It's a situation where the questions are near endless.

Yet, for the Kings' Anze Kopitar, the process will relatively stress free.  He doesn't have another guys from LA with him - so no separation anxiety here or possible hits from Jack Johnson to concern himself with. It's only been a few weeks since Slovenia even had a second player in the NHL (Jan Mursak of the red Wings). Thus, he won't be worrying about national pride when lacing up the skates this weekend either.

Perhaps the only thing on his mind right now is will he be the last player selected? A shame that nobody wanted as a kid, nor even sounds appealing to a professional athlete making millions of dollars. Regardless of circumstance, that's embarrassing.

NHL All Star Game Mock Draft with Matt Greene

Kings defenseman was Matt Greene was the 44th overall pick back at the 2002 NHL Draft. So, he knows all about waiting around to be selected.

Right now, he's probably half way to Pioneertown (story here). However, before he left we did a mock draft for this weekend's NHL All Star Game.

Like the mock drafted posted earlier today with Drew Doughty, we only took one goalie, two defensemen and three forwards from the pool of available players (excluding Anze Kopitar, due to them being teammates).

Perhaps displaying a bit of the brain power he put to use at the University of North Dakota, Greene carefully thought about each selection and provided commentary along the way.

When selecting his first forward he said "I'll take Stamkos. He scores a lot."

Then, he started talking strategy, after noting that he already has a center he added "I'll go with Giroux at wing."

NHL All Star Game Mock Draft with Drew Doughty

All Star Games in every sport have become boring.

We all know it.

If the game is in your city, it's a great experience - as it was here in Los Angeles in 2002...a weekend filled with legends of the game everywhere, the fan fest, a skills competition, etc.

However, the game itself isn't much to get pumped for unless you're there live. Even the honor of being selected to play doesn't seem to mean what it once did, with more and more athletes finding reasons to have a mini-vacation instead of attending the event with their peers.

Major League Baseball attempted to give theirs a little umph a few years ago by affixing a meaningful prize to the winning league - home field advantage in the playoffs. Sounds great on the surface, but it's hard for fans to invest emotionally in July for an outcome that may or may not mean something to their team three months later. Not to mention the nonsensical correlation between a team gaining such a critical advantage for a championship series by an All Star team victory.

This year the NHL takes its turn at trying to spice things up a bit and I love what they've done.

The game will probably be the same, perhaps only slightly better.

However, there is much more intrigue leading up to tonight than in any All Star Game of recent memory.

At 5pm PST the All Star Draft will get underway on live TV. If you haven't heard, gone is the Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference format. Instead, each team has been assigned a captain (Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings and Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes) and three assistants. All other players have been put in a general pool and one by one they'll be selected to their teams, just like kids on a school yard or frozen pond.

With that in mind, I sat down with a few Kings players to do a mock draft before they all went their separate ways this weekend.  First up, defenseman Drew Doughty.

Kings 'Youth and Promise' Has Familiar Ring to 'Hawks

The team was coming off a run where they hadn't made the playoffs since 2001-02. However, the roster was filled with promising forwards and a few stud defenseman, including one who will be a Norris Trophy finalist for much of the next decade. Which left goaltending as the only question. They responded with a 100-point season, their first in 17 years. Then, they made some noise in the playoffs, but eventually lost.

All was fine though. They had now 'learned how to lose.' Thus, the trendy pick among experts and prognosticators the following season was to say this was the team that would go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, perhaps winning it all.

No, that quick recap of history wasn't about the Los Angeles Kings. It was the Chicago Blackhawks story in the summer of 2009.

Given the Kings striking similarities right now, you can see why many people are calling them things like 'this year's Blackhawks.'

So, when the two teams meet later tonight it will certainly be a measuring stick game.  Whenever a team faces the defending Stanley Cup Champions it's a chance to compare your progress vs theirs.  This is a little more than that though.  It's almost like a little brother testing his improving strength against an older adversary.

Not only did the 'Hawks win the Cup last June, they also hold bragging rights over the Kings - winning the season series last year 3-1.  All-time, LA needs just one more win to even the series, currently sitting at 73-74-22 vs. Chicago.

Here are five other points of interest in tonight's match-up:

Doughnuts with the Morning Coffee

LA Kings defenseman...and Norris Trophy candidate...Drew Doughty checked in with the guys at NHL Live this morning to discuss basketball, golf, the NHL awards, Philly vs. Chicago, Chris Pronger, playing at the Olympics and more.

Here are the highlights of the 10 minute conversation:

* He's back home in London, Ontario...will probably return to LA sometime in late July.

* Breaking down the Stanley Cup Finals - I don't know who's going to win.  I kinda think Chicago is going to win.  I'd like to see Philly win because they're the underdog, coming back from 0-3 in their earlier series.

* Are the Blackhawks as fast as they look?  They have skill in all areas of the ice.  They're hard to play against, they're really good at moving the puck.  They have good hands, good shots.  They don't take it easy on anybody.  From their first line to their fourth line they have scorers that can put the puck in the net.  They're a solid, all around team.

* Handicap the Norris race -