Vincent Lecavalier wants to fill the right role with LA Kings
LOS ANGELES – Vincent Lecavalier stood in front of a Los Angeles Kings banner on Thursday and spoke like a role player.
Wearing a team hoodie, the 35-year-old Lecavalier is a proud former Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner. He’s scored over 400 goals in his career and notched 932 points. When retired his number will probably be raised to the rafters at Amalie Arena, where he helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win the 2004 Stanley Cup.
But after a Wednesday trade from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Kings with Luke Schenn for prospect Jordan Weal and a draft pick, Lecavalier said he just wanted to fit in with his new team. No more, no less.
“I haven’t played in a while but I’ve been practicing hard and trying to be as ready as possible for that first game,” he said. “Obviously short shifts is a key, but ready to go.”
When Lecavalier signed with the Flyers before the 2013-14 season, he did so to play for coach Peter Laviolette and Laviolette’s attacking structure. Laviolette was let go three games into that year, and Lecavalier didn’t seem to mesh with how Philly approached the forward’s role after. He scored 20 goals and notched 37 points that season, then the following year he had 20 points in 57 games and so far this year he’s played seven contests.
Lecavalier has said he will retire after this season and a lot of that decision may have to do with the amount of rust that’s accumulated on his game the last year and a half.
“The decision for me to go (to Philadelphia) was mainly for Peter Laviolette and he left after three games, so he got let go after three games and the mentality kind of changed,” Lecavalier said. “I wasn’t really part of their plans after that, so very frustrating but I’m happy I’m here now.”
On a Wednesday teleconference, Kings general manager Dean Lombardi made cross-sport references with Lecavalier, comparing him to Bill Walton with the Boston Celtics or Darryl Strawberry with the New York Yankees – as star players past their primes playing a lesser role, and contributing on a championship team. Lecavalier was open to this situation in Los Angeles, probably in part because the Kings are leading the Pacific Division.
“They just want me to come in here and fill in that role they want me to and I’m ready for it and I’m excited for it,” Lecavalier said. “They’ve had a lot of success playing as a team. That’s what everybody’s doing and that’s what everybody has to do to win and I’ll do the same.”
In his morning skate comments Thursday before a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kings coach Darryl Sutter didn’t say how he’d use Lecavalier. At his age, it’s unclear if Lecavalier can still play his natural position at center. Los Angeles likes to roll four lines, and the Kings haven’t seen many problems recently with the group having won five of six games.
But the Kings organization looks at Lecavalier as veteran depth that can help the team – not someone who will languish as a healthy scratch like he did with Philadelphia.
“I think if you ask any guy on our team in Philadelphia, a guy with that career, and the way the situation was the last couple of years, he’s nothing but a true professional,” Schenn said “He’s handled it better than anyone possibly could. He’s come to work every day in practice. He’s the first one to do extra work in drills with the scratches and the hurt guys. In a situation like that it’s probably pretty easy to walk around and not feel so good about yourself and probably bring your teammates down. He hasn’t shown that at all. He’s been nothing but a true professional.”
In some ways the key to Wednesday’s trade was more Schenn than Lecavalier. The Kings had been rumored to add another defenseman to replace the injured Matt Greene. In Schenn, they have a player who was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, that still has some upside. Schenn has never notched more than 22 points in a season, and had five in 29 games with Philly this year while averaging 17:35 of ice-time.
In a recent 2-1 loss at the Kings, Schenn was impressed with how the team played and doesn’t see any issue finding a spot with the team.
“We were all talking after the game about how it was probably the toughest team we played all year, against the Kings. To get traded to a team like that, they’ve got respect around the league, it’s a pretty good feeling,” Schenn said. “That’s part of my game, to be physical. When I’m most successful is when I’m physical. I don’t want to say I’m going to replace Matt Greene or this guy or that guy. I’m going to try to help the team and try to fill whatever role they want me to fill.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
