When he arrived on New Year's Day 1989, the official press release of his call-up from Salt Lake of the IHL had Theoren Fleury listed rather optimistically at 150 lb.
"Yeah," cackled coach Terry Crisp back then, "150 pounds with rocks in his pockets."
After 11 seasons modelling the Flaming C, nearly 20 years after his competitive departure and a decade after retirement, he remains a singular star in the franchise firmament.
A truly one-of-a-kind, infectious blend of exciting and inciting.
"I've always had to accept that I was small," Fleury explained at the start of the amazing adventure. "There was no changing it. I had to dig down deep, real deep, and say: 'Screw the world! There isn't anybody or anything that's going to keep me from reaching my goal.'
"I've never doubted myself. Sure I'm a cocky little b------. That's what got me here."
Initially, both friends and foes wondered if maybe Fleury's mouth might not be more prodigious than his talent.
(Just one example: In the spring of 1990, after Wayne Gretzky and the Hollywood-celebrity-darling L.A Kings had upset the reigning Stanley Cup-champ Flames in Round 1, Fleury was asked who'd win the ensuing L.A.-Oilers tiff. The little guy sneered: "Oh, Edmonton. The Kings are too busy going over to Jack Nicholson's house for barbecues").
In '90-91, he hit for 51 goals and what would be a career-high 104 points. On six occasions, including four seasons in a row, he'd top the Flames in scoring.
"It seemed," Fleury reminisced of his early days trying to make a team, prove a point, kick-start, "that everyone on the team was against me back then.
"Here I was, this little kid, encroaching on their territory. It took a while for me to fit in. I was taking someone's place in the lineup - someone who'd been there a while - and there was resentment. I could definitely feel it. But I didn't care. I was in the NHL, where I'd dreamed my whole life of being."
