Claude Lemieux comeback 2008-2009

[Stringer Bell]

Possibly one of the most overlooked under talked and most impressive things ever in my opinion.

5 years away from the game and at 43-44 years old? Even the 11 points in 23 AHL games that year is very impressive to me.

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[BraveCanadian]

Yeah he did quite well. Still a huge dirty rat pile of crap though.

 

[carjackmalone]

I recall his first game with the sharks

He was hitting everything and everybody on the ice it was an awesome statement

 

[The Panther]

I remember thinking it was a bit odd.

I 'get' Theo Fleury doing his thing so he could "retire as a Flame", or whatever. Anyway, it was good PR for the franchise even if he was unlikely to make the roster.

And I get guys trying to come back at 34 (Peplinski), 35 (Lemieux) or even 36-38, if in really good health. But at age 43...? It's just not gonna work out.

Also, I think Lemieux had already made pretty good coin in his career, right? I mean, I doubt he needed money. And since the Sharks played him, like, 7 minutes per game, it's not like he was going to put up any points.

 

[RussianShark]

The Sharks board had a poster back then that was absolutely obsessed with Claude Lemieux, well before his comeback attempt.

His username was something like "Mr Scarface", and he ended up almost each sentence with 'mane' and consistently advocated for adding a gritty legend like Claude to the Sharks. It was the funniest shit mane. He said he was crying tears of joy when the Sharks called up Claude. Pour one out for him, banned to the shadow realm by mods with no sense of humor.

Anyways, Claude's comeback was particularly spectacular as it started in Shanghai - with 2 games for the shortly-lived China Sharks.

Before we knew it, he was up on the pro team - but I can't recall much of what he did on the ice. It's a shame Torrey Mitchell suffered a broken leg that preseason, was really hoping he could build on a strong rookie year and get the Sharks over the hump.

 

[buffalowing88]

There was a bizarre dynamic for the first handful of years after the lockout where some of the guys who didn't need to come back, or even continue playing, did so anyways.

Claude Lemieux, Roenick, and Fleury hold a spot for me in that regard. I think Owen Nolan made an attempt, too. It was just far too different of a league than they had played in.

Some guys, like Yzerman, Hull, and Robitaille recognized it and moved on.

Others did okay but changed their roles, such as Shanahan.

Ultimately, I do think that 05-07 was the largest changing of the guards in hockey history and I don't know that anything will repeat that. Claude Lemieux was just a part of those in denial who ultimately found out pretty quickly.

Now Mario on the other hand...who even knows. I think he could have played to 45 if it weren't for the history of injuries haunting him. I could absolutely see a PP specialist Mario still making an impact for those 09 Penguins if his body held up for him.

 

[hypereconomist]

I remember it seeming like an absolute joke that Lemieux was even getting playing time with the Sharks. His legs were absolutely cooked and he was already slow in the AHL. I didn't notice him on the ice in the couple Sharks games that I tuned-in to watch.

It is impressive, to a degree, that he managed to work his way back to the NHL. However, any other 43 year old trying to make a comeback with Lemeiux's level of skill at the time wouldn't have even gotten a sniff of the NHL without some favors from the old boys club, which really cheapens the whole comeback attempt, IMO.

We laugh at the headline of Khabibulin making a pro comeback in the KHL, but Lemieux's comeback was essentially the same thing.

 

[MadLuke]

I remember thinking it was a bit odd.

He got his American citizenship in 2009, started a frozen fruit company with ex-canadian Zvoboda and played/transfered from the Chinese team that had some collaboration deal/sponsored by the Sharks organization the China Dragon that became the China Sharks.

It could generate some feeling of being a odd moment, of being a move combined to gain a job/visibility for others endeavor, could be just completely innocent timing.

Ultimately, I do think that 05-07 was the largest changing of the guards in hockey history and I don't know that anything will repeat that. Claude Lemieux was just a part of those in denial who ultimately found out pretty quickly.

Some did feel like that (LeClair, Hull, etc...) but Lemieux first retired in 2002-2003 a full clean season before the 2003-2004 one.

A 20 pts 13-14 minutes a game player that last season, scored 2 his last 32 games.

We can imagine he had a list of injury like most at that age slowing him down that he recuperated from, but otherwise it is not like he was a still a relevant nhler like Fleury-Roenick were before the lock-out.

Both the return and the fact he got a spot on a relevant good team felt stranger than most of the other people return-attempt of a return mentioned. Or maybe it can be spinned the other way around, a team like the Sharks made the most sense for both party, like having a cup winning legend has a lucky-charm/presence in the locker-room would be a nice plus to turn the franchise playoff faith regardless of what he do on the ice.

 

[Voight]

That year always sticks out to me because a 39 year old Roenick was also on that team.

 

[Terry Yake]

There was a bizarre dynamic for the first handful of years after the lockout where some of the guys who didn't need to come back, or even continue playing, did so anyways.

Claude Lemieux, Roenick, and Fleury hold a spot for me in that regard. I think Owen Nolan made an attempt, too. It was just far too different of a league than they had played in.

Some guys, like Yzerman, Hull, and Robitaille recognized it and moved on.

Others did okay but changed their roles, such as Shanahan.

Ultimately, I do think that 05-07 was the largest changing of the guards in hockey history and I don't know that anything will repeat that. Claude Lemieux was just a part of those in denial who ultimately found out pretty quickly.

Now Mario on the other hand...who even knows. I think he could have played to 45 if it weren't for the history of injuries haunting him. I could absolutely see a PP specialist Mario still making an impact for those 09 Penguins if his body held up for him.

roenick was already on the decline in 03-04 and was absolutely cooked post-lockout. pretty sure he only hung on to reach 500 goals. i recall yzerman was somewhat decent in 05-06. then you had guys like robitaille, hull, and andreychuk who simply couldn't keep up anymore

owen nolan actually had a couple decent seasons post-lockout before calling it quits. 40 pts with the coyotes in 06-07 and a 25 goal, 45 pt season with the wild in 08-09

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I remember thinking it was a bit odd.

I 'get' Theo Fleury doing his thing so he could "retire as a Flame", or whatever. Anyway, it was good PR for the franchise even if he was unlikely to make the roster.

And I get guys trying to come back at 34 (Peplinski), 35 (Lemieux) or even 36-38, if in really good health. But at age 43...? It's just not gonna work out.

Also, I think Lemieux had already made pretty good coin in his career, right? I mean, I doubt he needed money. And since the Sharks played him, like, 7 minutes per game, it's not like he was going to put up any points.

I wish I could find a picture of Peplinski from that season. Seeing I just can’t picture him in the new Flames jersey.

 

[FerrisRox]

I remember it seeming like an absolute joke that Lemieux was even getting playing time with the Sharks. His legs were absolutely cooked and he was already slow in the AHL. I didn't notice him on the ice in the couple Sharks games that I tuned-in to watch.

It is impressive, to a degree, that he managed to work his way back to the NHL. However, any other 43 year old trying to make a comeback with Lemeiux's level of skill at the time wouldn't have even gotten a sniff of the NHL without some favors from the old boys club, which really cheapens the whole comeback attempt, IMO.

We laugh at the headline of Khabibulin making a pro comeback in the KHL, but Lemieux's comeback was essentially the same thing.

I mean no, it clearly isn't even remotely the same thing.

For starters, Khabibulin is seven years older than Lemieux was, which is an absolutely enormous difference, right out of the gate.

Secondly, Khabibullin plays goaltender, and as a position, if it's much less forgiving if your reflexes have slowed as they naturally do as you get older.

Finally, Lemieux attempted a comeback after being away from the game for four years. Khabibiulin is trying to comeback after a decade away. That's a gigantic difference.

It's strange that on one hand you want to dismiss Lemieux's comeback as "an absolute joke" and you want to pretend that Claude only got back to the NHL because of "the old boys club" and you claim his legs were "absolutely cooked" and he was looking slow at the AHL level, then, in the next breath, you say you didn't even notice him out there.

The Sharks were a President's Trophy team that season. I assure you, if there was a guy on their fourth line for over 20 games who was "an absolute joke" and was skating at a sub-AHL level, I promise you: you would have noticed him.

 

[VanIslander]

Claude LOVED hockey, and cried multiple times during his career.

He is an all-time great playoff goal scorer because he is 100% plastered to the wall awaiting every moment to play.

I loathe the Devils; yet, was a boy scout and a newspaper reporter, so i see his excellence.

He is wired to do what needs to be done.

 

[buffalowing88]

He got his American citizenship in 2009, started a frozen fruit company with ex-canadian Zvoboda and played/transfered from the Chinese team that had some collaboration deal/sponsored by the Sharks organization the China Dragon that became the China Sharks.

It could generate some feeling of being a odd moment, of being a move combined to gain a job/visibility for others endeavor, could be just completely innocent timing.


Some did feel like that (LeClair, Hull, etc...) but Lemieux first retired in 2002-2003 a full clean season before the 2003-2004 one.

A 20 pts 13-14 minutes a game player that last season, scored 2 his last 32 games.

We can imagine he had a list of injury like most at that age slowing than down that he recuparated from, but otherwise it is not like he was a still a relevant nhler like Fleury-Roenick were before the lock-out.

Both the return and the fact he got a spot on a relevant good team felt stranger than most of the other people return-attempt of a return mentioned. Or maybe it can be spinned the other way around, a team like the Sharks made the most sense for both party, like having a cup winning legend has a lucky-charm/presence in the locker-room would be a nice plus to turn the franchise playoff faith regardless of what he do on the ice.

Certainly something to consider! They toyed with guys like Claude and Roenick near the end but there honestly needs to be a 30-for-30 on the leadership vacuum of that squad from 06-14 or so.

roenick was already on the decline in 03-04 and was absolutely cooked post-lockout. pretty sure he only hung on to reach 500 goals. i recall yzerman was somewhat decent in 05-06. then you had guys like robitaille, hull, and andreychuk who simply couldn't keep up anymore

owen nolan actually had a couple decent seasons post-lockout before calling it quits. 40 pts with the coyotes in 06-07 and a 25 goal, 45 pt season with the wild in 08-09

You're absolutely right. Nolan had a longer post-lockout career than I thought. He's probably as big of an enigma of that era as I can think of.

 

[carjackmalone]

Carl Brewer made a comeback at 42 and looked pretty good out except everyone thought he was an Imlach mole and didn’t pass him the puck

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

roenick was already on the decline in 03-04 and was absolutely cooked post-lockout. pretty sure he only hung on to reach 500 goals. i recall yzerman was somewhat decent in 05-06. then you had guys like robitaille, hull, and andreychuk who simply couldn't keep up anymore

owen nolan actually had a couple decent seasons post-lockout before calling it quits. 40 pts with the coyotes in 06-07 and a 25 goal, 45 pt season with the wild in 08-09

Andreychuk had the perfect ending for his career. The elusive Cup. There were unmerited Ray Bourque comparisons (Andy couldn't shine Ray's shoes) but it was the same kind of idea. He was leadership and PPGs by that point of his career. Perfect time to retire.

I couldn't believe he tried to give it another go post-lockout. His career ended on the waiver wire.

 

[FissionFire]

Lemieux looked brutal on that Sharks team. He was too slow to keep up with the game. Always figured someone owed him a favor or something. He was about as relevant as Gordie Howe was in his Vipers stint in 97-98z

 

[Terry Yake]

Certainly something to consider! They toyed with guys like Claude and Roenick near the end but there honestly needs to be a 30-for-30 on the leadership vacuum of that squad from 06-14 or so.



You're absolutely right. Nolan had a longer post-lockout career than I thought. He's probably as big of an enigma of that era as I can think of.

i remember nolan sat out 05-06 after undergoing knee surgery. a couple years away from the game+a healthy knee might have been the reason why he managed to play another 4 seasons

 

[MS]

I seem to recall Lemieux saying that his kids were too young to remember him playing during his career so a big motivation for the comeback was that they could actually watch him live in an NHL jersey.

 

[The Panther]

I seem to recall Lemieux saying that his kids were too young to remember him playing during his career so a big motivation for the comeback was that they could actually watch him live in an NHL jersey.

-- "Hey, did you ever see your dad play in the NHL?"

-- "Yeah! He was a fourth-line scrub with two shifts per game, and damn he looked slow out there!" : )

 

[hypereconomist]

I mean no, it clearly isn't even remotely the same thing.

For starters, Khabibulin is seven years older than Lemieux was, which is an absolutely enormous difference, right out of the gate.

Secondly, Khabibullin plays goaltender, and as a position, if it's much less forgiving if your reflexes have slowed as they naturally do as you get older.

Finally, Lemieux attempted a comeback after being away from the game for four years. Khabibiulin is trying to comeback after a decade away. That's a gigantic difference.

Without being overly pedantic, it is the same thing. Two formerly big name players (albeit not stars) that have been away from the game (as players) for many years trying to make a professional comeback seemingly out of nowhere. The only difference being that one guy is trying to be a 12/13 forward and the other is trying to be a backup or third-string goalie.

It doesn't matter if one player was away from the game 6-7 years and one player was away from the game for a decade. Both are incredibly over-the-hill and the professional comeback is a sideshow.

It's strange that on one hand you want to dismiss Lemieux's comeback as "an absolute joke" and you want to pretend that Claude only got back to the NHL because of "the old boys club" and you claim his legs were "absolutely cooked" and he was looking slow at the AHL level, then, in the next breath, you say you didn't even notice him out there.

The Sharks were a President's Trophy team that season. I assure you, if there was a guy on their fourth line for over 20 games who was "an absolute joke" and was skating at a sub-AHL level, I assure you: you would have noticed him.

It's not strange at all. It's possible to notice notice a player being slow, while also noticing them not having an impact on the actual game itself. For the couple Sharks games that tuned-in to watch that season, I specifically tuned-in to see Lemieux. He may have been good enough in the AHL, but he absolutely was not an NHL-caliber player in his comeback. That much is obvious by what he was showing on the ice and how little the Sharks actually played him.

Any other player with Lemieux's skill-level in his comeback does not make the NHL without some favors from the NHL old boys club (e.g. Fleury's failed attempt).

Sure, Sharks probably wanted Lemieux on the team to help lend his experience as a cup winner instead of his on-ice skills, but the entire comeback saga was strange and did feel like a weird, ego-driven publicity stunt of sorts.

It was an absolute joke.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Lemieux looked brutal on that Sharks team. He was too slow to keep up with the game. Always figured someone owed him a favor or something. He was about as relevant as Gordie Howe was in his Vipers stint in 97-98z

IIRC immediately post-lockout the cap was something like 40M with a league minimum salary of 500k? And now its more like 80+ M cap space to work with and 700k minimum, so having a spare piece that doesnt cost exactly the league minimum isnt such a big deal if youre a cap strapped contender. Hence why comeback attempts like Fleury, Forsberg, and Lemieux were considered at the time because if you could get a net positive out of that little bit of cap space you had it made. Nowadays if the player costs maybe 1-2M out of the minors it isnt quite such a big deal because theres so much more room under the cap.

If my logic is correct, lets suppose a hypothetical roster of 23 minimum wage players in each scenario

Immediately post-lockout 500k * 23 = 11.5 M, which leaves 28.5 M to play with for bigger contracts
Now 700k * 23 = 16M, which leaves 64 M to play with for bigger contracts

 

[Crosby2010]

Andreychuk had the perfect ending for his career. The elusive Cup. There were unmerited Ray Bourque comparisons (Andy couldn't shine Ray's shoes) but it was the same kind of idea. He was leadership and PPGs by that point of his career. Perfect time to retire.

I couldn't believe he tried to give it another go post-lockout. His career ended on the waiver wire.

I was a little annoyed not that Andreychuk won the Cup, but that all of the sudden for the first time in his entire career the media started pumping him up for the HHOF. It was like "Hey, he captained a Cup team.............oh, and he has over 600 NHL goals! Well how could we NOT include him now?" I was like "Say what?" I liked him as a player, but no one ever thought he was a future HHOFer. There are guys who compiled a good career that when all is said and done that look the part of the HHOF like Mark Recchi for example, where people can at least say he was elite at one point and even then there might be whispers that he has a future in the HHOF, but when the only time you ever hear that about a player is their last season or because they won a Cup to go out on top, then that means they don't belong.

But to the point with Claude Lemieux, I really didn't understand why he was trying. His final year 6 years prior to that he had 20 points in 68 games and he looked finished at that time. I am not sure what 1 assist in 18 games in 2009 really proved. Maybe it was a sense of pride or wanting to see if it could be done at 43, but I think Theo Fleury's attempted comeback that same year made more sense to me. He was younger, and actually looked pretty good in training camp and if I recall the idea was that Fleury would stay if he could crack the top two lines, which I guess he didn't even though the Flames were thin on RW after Iginla and I honestly wonder if he couldn't have helped. But either way, Lemieux was never as good as Fleury, and was 5 years older and I just didn't get it, other than maybe he wanted his 5th Cup and what I assume would be a record of having won the Cup with 4 different franchises. Honestly, did anyone think this might have been his biggest driving force? He only played 5 minutes of playoff hockey in 2009 though.

Okay, so I am being hard on Claude, but I will have to admit one thing, I have softened on him over the years. I hated him as a player, never liked the turtling he did, thought he was a rat when he played and actually cheered for McCarty when he attacked him in 1997's famous brawl. Looking back it was sort of a sucker punch when he wasn't looking from McCarty even though I still love that brawl to this day. And Claude has always seemed like a stand up guy and if I recall was a popular teammate. I will admit I'd want him on my team in his prime.