Vincent Lecavalier aims for one last Cup before retirement
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Los Angeles Kings forward Vincent Lecavalier hasn’t changed his mind. He’s going to retire after his team finishes their playoff run.
“It’s not something I re-thought,” Lecavalier said with a shrug. “It’s the last time I’m going to be in the playoffs.”
At this stage of the season, the 35-year-old Lecavalier isn’t one to wax poetic on his year or his career. If he does, his mind will race, and that’s something he wants to avoid as the Kings prepare to try for another march to a Stanley Cup.
“I’m thinking in the present, I’m not thinking ‘in four months I’m going to be retired’ or what not,” Lecavalier said. “I’m thinking right now, tomorrow and that’s it.”
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But there’s still acknowledgement from Lecavalier about the importance of the next several weeks. He said he’s readying for family visits to Los Angeles as they gather to see him wear an NHL jersey in-game for the last time.
Lecavalier is a former 52-goal scorer who has racked up 949 points in 1,212 NHL games in his career.
“They’ve watched every game my whole career,” Lecavalier said of his parents. “I’m sure for them it’s a big deal as well.”
Since Lecavalier, who has two years remaining on his contract, was traded to the Kings, there have been questions on whether he’ll change his mind and come back next season. This is because he’s fit in nicely as their third-line center who chips in on the power play and penalty kill.
When asked about Lecavalier’s pending retirement, Kings coach Darryl Sutter shot back, “Did he tell you that today?” noting that “there’s a lot of assumptions in that question that it is his last playoffs.”
When Lecavalier was traded to Los Angeles in January along with Luke Schenn, he had played just seven games at that point with the Philadelphia Flyers and was a healthy scratch for most of the season.
The Kings showed no hesitation to play Lecavalier right away, throwing him into a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs the day after the trade. This breathed new life into the end of Lecavalier’s career and shored up a position of need for the Kings. He’s not the same offensive player he was earlier in his career, or even a couple of years ago, but he’s been serviceable. Lecavalier averaged 13:52 of ice-time and scored 10 goals in 42 games.
“It has worked out for sure,” Lecavalier said. “From not playing to playing important minutes, like you said – special teams and the PK. I think Darryl gives everybody a role, and everyone has an important role on the team and that’s why we’re successful.”
He started out hot for the Kings with six points in his first 10 games, but then trailed off in February, going pointless in eight straight games. He had just two points in his last 10 games. Lecavalier attributes this to some of the initial energy boost from the trade wearing off.
“I felt really good right away, then you get a little dip,” Lecavalier said. “The first couple of weeks is excitement and you kind of go on adrenaline I guess. Then there was a road trip out east was pretty tough for me.”
Los Angeles isn’t home for Lecavalier, but he’s enjoyed his last several months here. One week after the trade his wife and three children moved to LA and rented a house.
“There’s sports, there’s everything (here). The hockey program, the youth program here is unbelievable – baseball, golf … it’s fun,” Lecavalier said. “(My kids) love it.”
When Lecavalier won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, Dave Andreychuk was the graybeard on the team near the end of his career. The team rallied around Andreychuk and created one of the more memorable images of the last several NHL championships – with Andreychuk hoisting his first Cup at the age of 40. Lecavalier is five years younger than Andreychuk was in 2004, and he’s already won a Cup, but Sutter hopes his team sees the same concept with Lecavalier. Maybe this could provide a motivating factor for the Kings in the postseason.
“It’s a long season. Sometimes it’s hard on (older players), sometimes it’s too much, sometimes you can’t rise up, sometimes they’re strictly motivated by playoffs and they pick their game up in playoffs, sometimes they become first stars,” Sutter said. “In my mind, being a huge hockey fan, I can remember older players lifting the Stanley Cup that even though they might’ve beat you, you’re very proud of what they accomplished, and I’m sure a player like that would be, too.”
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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
