Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fleury Failed 13 Drug Tests as a Ranger in 2001

Jeff Z. Klein at Slap Shot reports that Theo Fleury alleges in his memoir, “Playing With Fire,” that he failed several drug tests when he was with the Rangers in 2001 and the league did not punish him...

“I had 13 dirty tests in a row, but I was leading the NHL in scoring, so what were they going to do?” Fleury said in the book, adding that he even substituted Gatorade and his own baby’s urine for some of the tests. “The N.H.L. doctors kept warning me, ‘Another dirty test and we’re taking you out.’ So what did I do? C’mon, I’ve never followed a rule in my life.”

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly responded by stating that Fleury's recollection of that time period is factually inaccurate.

...you can say that again Daly. Man, Fleury was so drunk and stoned back then that he actually thought he was leading the league in scoring. For the record, in the 2000-2001 season he was 37th in scoring and in 2001-2002 he was 42nd.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe at that point in the season he was leading the league in scoring...?

Kevin DeLury said...

I thought of that, but he says he failed 13 tests that season. Unless all those tests were during the week or two he was leading the league I think he misremembers what was going on in 2001.