A remarkable story that few paid much heed as recently as a couple of months ago became reality this week when Claude Lemieux skated on a sheet of National Hockey League ice for the first time since 2003.
Lemieux, 43, played just over seven minutes for the San Jose Sharks against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night. Though the Sharks are riding high in the Western Conference, no team can afford to use an on-ice gimmick, and Lemieux will get a serious chance next week to prove he belongs in the NHL on a regular basis.
"I think he has to feel good about himself after one game," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "We certainly do. We'll come back after the all-star break and he'll be out there and we'll see what happens."
Once it was clear he was hell-bent on completing a comeback, Lemieux hired a personal trainer for the first time in his life and lost 25 pounds. It was difficult to not be skeptical about Lemieux's plans when he went public last September with his desire to return. But at his age, and especially in a game where anyone 40 or over is a dinosaur, he deserves plenty of credit for seeing it through.
"This is something my 12-year-old talked about every time we watched a hockey game," Lemieux said. "He would ask, 'Daddy, could you still play? Are you still a free agent?' And I would say, 'Yeah, once you retire, you're a free agent for life.' My 12-year-old and my daughter don't remember much from my career. This is a big deal for (his kids)."
One interested observer in Lemieux's return? Kris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings. Nearly 13 years have passed since Lemieux, then with the Colorado Avalanche, walloped Draper into the boards during the playoffs. Only after reconstructive facial surgery did Draper return. The next season, Darren McCarty sought retribution and beat Lemieux until he was pulled off.
"I don't blame the guy for trying to make a comeback," Draper said. "You're going to play this game as long as you can. The older you get, the more you realize you just try to stay in as long as you can. He's back. I wish him luck."
The Sharks and Wings next meet on Feb. 25 in Motown.
NOT FUN ON WEST COAST
Coach Alain Vigneault will be under the gun in Vancouver to get the Canucks' fortunes turned around, and quickly, when the break ends. The Canucks play host to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night, and will have plenty of pieces to pick up after winning just two of their final 10 games heading into the down time.
Since signing Mats Sundin, the Canucks are 1-4-2, but general manager Mike Gillis said Vigneault's job is not in danger.
The Canucks have 51 points, good for seventh in the Western Conference, but just two points separate them and the 10th-place Columbus Blue Jackets.
"Every part of the team is reviewed every week as a matter of course," Gillis said. "There's nothing to suggest we'll do anything other than what we normally do."
A healthy and rested Roberto Luongo should be enough to guarantee more than a few wins. Luongo played in three games after coming back from a lengthy groin injury, and the Canucks probably would have been happy had he skipped the all-star game.
"We left it up to him, with a little bit of guidance," Gillis said.
The bloom is off Kyle Wellwood, who had rebounded after being put on waivers in October. In 16 games since Dec. 14, Wellwood has just two goals and has been a healthy scratch at times.
WAYNE KNOWS BEST
Their financial situation is a mess, but the Phoenix Coyotes have to be considered one of the surprises of the first half. With his team sitting in fifth place in the Western Conference, Wayne Gretzky could help dispel down the stretch the notion that the best hockey players don't necessarily make good coaches. Gretzky, obviously, knew what was required to get through the playoff wars and it's invaluable advice he will pass on to his players when the games get down and dirty in the next few months.
"In some ways it's a bad time for a break because we're playing as good as we've played in a long time, but the other side of it, the last part of the season is going to be harder, every game's going to be harder, every game's going to be like a playoff game," Gretzky said. "Maturity and will to win really has come a long way here, effort and goaltending, everything's sort of risen, and that's the difference."
One guy listening intently to Gretzky will be centre Olli Jokinen. His career in games played? Regular season 765, playoffs 0.
ICE CHIPS
With a long and expensive contract, the assumption was that the Maple Leafs' Jason Blake was untradeable, but that was before he started to play to his ability a couple of months ago. As much as coach Ron Wilson is singing Blake's praises, the club wouldn't mind moving him ... It might not have seemed possible, but the dumbest contract in NHL history got a lot dumber this week when the New York Islanders announced goalie Rick DiPietro was done for the season with knee trouble. Only 12 more years before DiPietro gets to explore free agency ... With nine victories in 14 games, Colorado Avalanche goalie Andrew Raycroft has more than four times as many (two) than he had last year in Toronto. But Peter Budaj, the No. 1 goalie in Colorado, has been inconsistent, and the thinking is the Avs will be shopping for a goalie before the March 4 trade deadline.
