While the return of Brendan Shanahan is worth it's own story (and believe me, there will be one here sooner than later), something pretty extraordinary happened today when the San Jose Sharks recalled Claude Lemieux from their AHL affiliate and gave the 43-year-old player an opportunity to play in the NHL for the first time in nearly 6 years. I say this is extraordinary because while you have cases like a 40-year-old Shanahan coming onto a team mid-season after a respectable tenure with the NY Rangers or the seemingly eternal 46-year-old Chris Chelios still being able to play the role of a Top-6 defensemen in the NHL, it's not every day that someone comes back to a pro sport after a 5 year hiatus from playing professionally (Lemieux's last season prior to this one was in 2003-04, where he spent time playing with EV Zug of the Swiss Nationaliga A.)
Now, as a born-and-raised fan of the Red Wings, I can't soon forget the dirty hit he laid on Draper during the 1996 Western Conference Finals. But as a person who believes it's more important to be fair than to be right, I can't soon forget the payback returned by Darren McCarty. Not that Draper was the first person to fall victim to Lemieux's dirty antics, Jim Peplinski had his finger bitten by Lemieux back in the 80's, but that was definitely a moment that galvanized Lemieux's reputation as a dirty player and cheap shot artist.
But in spite of his dirty play, Lemieux was also the type of person who was fiercely determined to win, no matter what the cost, and was one of the most key players whenever his team was faced with a clutch situation. As it stands, Lemieux is one of eight players ever to have won the Stanley Cup with 3 different teams (the 1986 Montreal Canadiens, the 1995 and 2000 New Jersey Devils, and the 1996 Colorado Avalanche.) Further, while his point production during regular season play was consistent of what was expected for a second-line player, his point production during the playoffs was either met, exceeded, or came pretty darn close to a point-per-game basis. While he might not have played up to his full potential during regular season play, he hardly, if ever, took a night off when it mattered most.
People can scoff at the notion of the team with the league's best record giving a 43-year-old, five seasons removed from professional hockey, a shot at being on their squad, but Lemieux brings something that the Sharks haven't demonstrated that they possess: Fierce determination and the ability to win when it counts. It's not just his playing record either. In a league where players either opt for retirement when faced with playing in a lower league or run to another league to take more money when they haven't played well enough to earn what they're asking for, Lemieux opted to mount a comeback by playing in the Asian Ice Hockey League (which is more on par with the CHL or ECHL than either the AHL or the elite leagues in Europe) and subsequently the AHL in order to prove to the Sharks, and himself, that he still had something to give. Combine that with the fact that he's gotten better at picking his spots (the book Blood Feud recounted a story where he wished Darren McCarty well with his battle with alcoholism after McCarty gave him the beat down) and you've got a player who can be absolutely dangerous on the ice, even if in a limited role.
Love him, hate him, or love to hate him (except when he's playing for your team), you can't deny the determination and effort Lemieux has put forward to return to the NHL despite the fact many would consider him to be past his prime. It goes to show that much like when playing against him, you have to expect the unexpected from Lemieux. Should San Jose choke in the playoffs, then you might be able to find more fault with the talent on the team who's expected to carry them into the post-season (Jumbo Joe, Patrick Marleau, and Evgeni Nabokov come to mind.) Yet if the Stanley Cup does end up in Nor-Cal this spring, the success might be pinned to the old dude who still liked to win enough to have staged the most unlikely and surprising comebacks in professional sports.
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