sr edler
gold is not reality
- Mar 20, 2010
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how was he a jerk?
For some reason we continue to cling onto what Lecavalier SHOULD have been rather than what he was. For some reason he constantly gets the benefit of the doubt all the time.
...Then he puts together a 78 point year in 2002-'03 and all of the sudden he seems to be back on track. After all, it took Lafleur, Perreault and others a few years before they hit superstardom, this was supposed to be Lecavalier's time. Then a 66 point season in 2003-'04. Meh. But then the Lightning won the Cup and he was a key part of it and lets not forget the World Cup MVP in 2004. Finally the guy had arrived right? Well, not quite. In 2005-'06 he only puts together 75 points with Richards outpointing him on his own team and the stars of the NHL racking up 100. It was one of those "huh" moments with him?
Oates you mean? Well, we don't have any insight to what happened in the dressing room but for the most part he just seemed like a quiet player who for some reason had the "audacity" not to talk to the media a lot. That's about it. We saw how the power of the media can make some players look like bigger jerks than they are such as Tom Barrasso. Look up the actual reasons WHY Barrasso didn't talk to the media and you get a better understanding of the man. He didn't talk to the media because at the end of the 1995 season for some reason they concocted some lies about him after the Pens exited the postseason. That was it for him. Too bad, because it's cost him the HHOF. As for Oates, I don't know the reasons, maybe he was just quiet. It isn't as if Joe Sakic was talkative either.
Oates you mean? Well, we don't have any insight to what happened in the dressing room but for the most part he just seemed like a quiet player who for some reason had the "audacity" not to talk to the media a lot. That's about it. We saw how the power of the media can make some players look like bigger jerks than they are such as Tom Barrasso. Look up the actual reasons WHY Barrasso didn't talk to the media and you get a better understanding of the man. He didn't talk to the media because at the end of the 1995 season for some reason they concocted some lies about him after the Pens exited the postseason. That was it for him. Too bad, because it's cost him the HHOF. As for Oates, I don't know the reasons, maybe he was just quiet. It isn't as if Joe Sakic was talkative either.
Vincent Lecavalier = Bobby Smith.
Both 6'4" #1 overall picks who came into the NHL with a ton of hype. Smith was at the time the best prospect since Lafleur and compared to Beliveau.
Both had one massive season where they lived up to all their potential/hype, but otherwise spent most of their careers as 'good' #1 centers who didn't quite meet expectations.
Both were the #1 center on a Cup winner.
Similar playing style, will have similar career totals.
as i recall, part of the reason barrasso was apparently so prickly to the media is because they invaded his family's privacy in the early 90s when his daughter had cancer. i think he lost his job to wregget at some point in '92 and the media used his daughter being sick as part of the goaltending controversy.
Yes, I saw Dino play. He was an excellent support player, but if he was the star of your team, you weren't going to have a very good team.
Points is a much stronger indication of a player's worth than goals, but 7th in points over the course of a player's career isn't particularly HHOF-quality, considering very few players have careers that perfectly overlap.
He his 8 in game played for the choseen period, kind of normal to be at the 7 position for points and also kind of not that high.
He his 29 in ppg during that period, behind Ray Whitney, Straka, Elias, Brad Richards, Sundin, Demitra, etc....
I agree that points is a stronger indication of a players worth, almost all of the time with forwards.
He being 7th in his career so far doesn't necessarily mean that he will be in the HHOF but it does go to indicate that he will be in the discussion. His placement at the end of his career will give us more meaning than the snapshot right now.
I use it to compare how he compares career wise to all other players during his playing years and it's only one of many ways we need to look at him.
PPG is another way to look at it as well but then you are comparing players with 300 plus games difference played as well and it might get tricky if the scoring rates are quite different from one end of the comp to the other.
His last 3 seasons and age 31 doesn't bode well for his HHOF chances though IMO.
Ray Whitney 879 games played 0,853 ppg
Vincent Lecavalier 944 games played 0,847 ppg
Still think it´s a HHOF argument?
Vincent Lecavalier = Bobby Smith.
Both 6'4" #1 overall picks who came into the NHL with a ton of hype. Smith was at the time the best prospect since Lafleur and compared to Beliveau.
Both had one massive season where they lived up to all their potential/hype, but otherwise spent most of their careers as 'good' #1 centers who didn't quite meet expectations.
Both were the #1 center on a Cup winner.
Similar playing style, will have similar career totals.
Bumping this old thread because I was searching for this topic -- having random thoughts and thinking this exact question maybe cuz Nucks just played them and Vinnie is the captain.
I don't think that Vinnie is a mediocre player, not just because there are no mediocre NHLers but he is a star player, a captain, and a first line player. He would definitely be one of the main guys that the other team's coach would say, and look out for such and such, don't leave him alone and let's review this tape on him.
However a first overall pick is supposed to be, I dunno, something extra, right? So much hype about them as 18 year olds. And especially this one, "The Michael Jordan Of Hockey." We all smiled at that comment but it stuck in the back of my mind and some part of me expected or at least really hoped to see that, to see the best player in the league. Instead, I don't know if he has ever been the best player on the Lightning. Was he more effective than Brad Richards, more inspirational than Marty St Louis, more dangerous than Steve Stamkos? I don't know, I don't watch much Tampa. But from over here it doesn't feel like it.
This is a longish way of saying that Vinnie has had a good career so far that is tarnished mainly by the expectation that it would be legendary.
Huge fan of Lecavalier, my favourite player. Started watching hockey in the 06-07 season, that season Lecavalier was just unstoppable, both regular season and playoffs.
Thats what makes it worse watching him now, not because he is a bad player. But because you see flashes of what he could do, but just not consistently. He was much more on form in the playoffs and has been more this year, just hope it maintains and he scores a PPG season.
Watching him tear up the scoreboard in 07-08 as well, while also getting into a lot of fights, that was his prime. Shame ****** hits like the one from Cooke ended that.
In my mind he will go down as a great player I mean he is likely to hit 1000 points given the length of his contract and has 11 consecutive 20+ goal seasons. But he will also go down as one of the most disappointing players to ever hit 1000 points as he could have done soo much more.
Lecavalier has always reminded me of Pierre Turgeon, though Turgeon had better numbers earlier in his career.
Didnt the Cooke hit happen later in the season a bit after Vinny's scoring dropped? I know injuries are a big factor of why he never reached those heights that he did circa 2007 but part of it has got to be inconsistency beyond injury.
But yeah i think Lecavalier was the best player in the world in the 07 season and in the first half of the 08 season he was just as good. He was scoring at a pace similar to Crosby last season and something like 10 points above the nearest player (i think Crosby actually).
It took him a little longer than expected to get there but i definitely expected him to continue hovering around 50 goal 100 points for a few more years so it is disappointing. I never had these insane and unfair expectations of him being like Mario Lemieux or the Michael Jordan of hockey but the guy was a top 5 talent in the league.
Now in his 30s under Boucher and with Stamkos there his role has definitely changed and hes improved defensively and doesnt mail it in as much like he did the few years before when the entire situation of the team was bad.
Still after the last playoffs i had high if somewhat unreasonable expectations of him and i expected him to play more with Marty and recapture his peak form. I never expected Stamkos would take himself to a whole other level though.