There is a philosophy advocated by crisis counselors and practiced by
recovering substance abusers: To maintain the faith in yourself, help from friends is needed.
Kevin Stevens, an admitted abuser of alcohol, has long subscribed to the
theory but only now is putting it into serious practice. He has been given
yet another opportunity for career resurrection -- this time in Philadelphia -- a
place where hockey miracles both mystifying and mortifying are commonplace.
"The friends I have in this league have made things a lot easier for me,"
Stevens said after an informal workout with his new teammates. "There's a lot of pressure, but that's no excuse. I can sit here and
say that everybody's been in some kind of situation like this. But the thing
is, how do you get out of it? How do you deal with it?
"It's always something I'll wish never happened, but it's also just
another hurdle. Other people can help you with that."
The latest small circle of friends around Stevens include Mark Recchi and
Rick Tocchet, two former linemates from Stevens' best professional years,
when he was scoring 50 goals a season and winning Stanley Cups for the Penguins in the early '90s.
That was also before Stevens started partying after games, drinking
heavily, hanging with the wrong people. Fame, fortune and the pain of a
horrific injury incurred on a hit by Rich Pilon might all have been
contributing factors in what Stevens calls a slip. Don't forget that hit by Pilon in the 1993 playoffs knocked Stevens unconscious as he fell face first on the ice. As a result, Stevens needed major facial surgery to repair his nose and sinus bone.
What remains unexplained is why his fall was so tragically repeated last January.
Caught with some very wrong people in a motel room in Illinois -- just over the border from St. Louis -- Stevens would be charged with one felony count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance
-- later revealed by police as crack cocaine. In the room was a woman
identified by police as a prostitute and a man fingered as a known drug
dealer. Drugs were being shared all around.
At least, that's what the police said.
"I never expected this. I never expected to
get involved with ... well, no one really knows, but I know what really
happened there," Stevens said. "You hear so many stupid stories. But it's just something that
never should have happened."
A felony count of delivering the drug was never brought, and two
misdemeanor charges of solicitation of a prostitute and possession of drug
paraphenalia were dropped. But the matter still isn't solved.
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People need a fresh start. He'll be with friends in Mark Recchi and Rick Tocchet. They can get him into an environment where he's with the right people with the right (ethic). So we view it as a good gamble. ” |
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— Flyers asst. GM Paul Holmgren |
Though he and his legal representatives supposedly have been told that an
agreement can be worked out which won't affect Stevens' commitments with the
Flyers, the one felony charge remaining against him still hasn't been
dropped. And until it is, it'll be a cloud hanging over his head.
While remaining positive that his legal troubles can be worked out,
Stevens still works at fixing his own social problems. He entered the
NHL's Substance Abuse and Behavorial Health Program almost immediately after
the arrest. That stark reality will stay with him the rest of his life.
"I was involved with the program before this happened, and I had been sober
for 18 months," Stevens said. "It was something where I put myself in a
situation where, you know, it was late, and I hadn't drank in a long time and
things weren't going too well for me.
"One of those situations where I
shouldn't have been in it, but probably a lot of people have been in them and
they slid out of them. I never slid out of it."
Now, instead of the $3 million-plus salary he'd been getting in recent years, he acepted a $600,000 offer sheet
from the Flyers. For that cut in pay, he'll receive a full-scale shot at
redemption and the company of people like Recchi and Tocchet to help prevent
him from slipping off the edge again.
"I'll never be in his shoes, knock on wood, but I know he's a great
person, with a great family," Recchi said. "It's unfortunate that it had to
come out publicly like it did. But maybe that's the wakeup call he needed."
"We should be able to get the puck to him, and if we can get him the puck
down low, he can bang in 20 or 30 goals this year," faithful friend Tocchet
said of Stevens. "When you have a player itching to prove everybody wrong,
that's a powerful thing."
Perhaps Stevens' best Philadelphia ally will be assistant general manager
Paul Holmgren. Having twice been arrested on DUI charges in the '90s,
Holmgren is himself a recovering alcohol abuser who attends regular AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings.
"People deserve a second chance," said Holmgren. "It doesn't matter if
you're a hockey player or a doctor or a lawyer or even a street sweeper or
something. People need a fresh start. He'll be with friends in Mark Recchi
and Rick Tocchet. They can get him into an environment where he's with the
right people with the right (ethic). So we view it as a good gamble."
For the Flyers, Stevens actually represents a form of insurance.
Gone, not officially but certainly in more than spirit, is Eric Lindros.
Almost gone will be John LeClair, unless mountains are moved in his
slow-moving talks for a long-term contract.
"We pretty much decided when the year was over that we probably weren't
going to have Lindros back," said Flyers president Bob Clarke. "I don't think
you can replace a Lindros with one player but you hope with group strength
it's going to be enough.
"Recchi spoke so highly of him as a person, and our trainer said all the
trainers that ever had him really liked him. So that minimizes any risk of
having him, I think. All the players like him, and that's the most important
thing."
Presuming his new network of old friends and assist-happy teammates works
to keep Stevens on the straight and narrow in the otherwise quirky hockey
town of Philadelphia, redemption might not be such a shot in the dark for
Stevens after all.
"I don't know if I can ever score 30 or 40
goals again, but I'd like to think I can," he said. "I feel better than I did five years
ago, physically. Now, it's just a matter of getting the confidence back.
Haven't done it in a few years, but you always want to believe in yourself,
don't you?"
Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. His NHL East column appears every week on ESPN.com.
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