My Bad, Claude

by Mike Chen on Jan 19, 2009 9:36 AM PST

You know all that I was saying about Claude Lemieux being a non-story? Doug Wilson is making me eat my words right now.

Granted, this is all due to the extreme injury situation the team is facing. I don't see him taking up a roster spot when Rob Blake, Brad Lukowich, Jeremy Roenick, and Torrey Mitchell return to the lineup.

Course, I was wrong about him making the big club, so what the hell do I know?

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Uggh. Claude Lemieux was a big-game player back in the day, and I can respect that. You don’t win Cups with 3 different teams on accident.

He’s also a clown. Hopefully the same team environment that keeps Roenick’s toolish tendencies in check will work the same with Lemieux, at least for the hopefully few games he’s here.

by ievans on Jan 19, 2009 1:19 PM PST reply actions

You may not like his antics or style of play, but if you know anything about Lemieux, “clown” does not apply. The Avalanche brought him in 96 to lead the young players and teach them to win by example. The result was a Stanley Cup.

You, like everybody else, may not like him and that’s fine, but Lemieux is one of the hardest working, most disciplined players of all time. You don’t win 4 cups on 3 teams, a Conn Smythe, and sit on the top 10 all time playoffs goals scored list by being a “clown” that “needs to be kept in check.”

Claude didn’t earn his way back into the NHL through China and the AHL at age 43 by being a clown, he didn’t it through hard work, determination, and his love for the game. How can you not respect that?

If Granato and/or Giguere really think that this is "up-tempo," I feel bad for their wives.

by JonHaven on Jan 20, 2009 3:23 PM PST up reply actions

Ok. Erase ‘clown’ and replace it with ‘gutless puke.’ Happy?

by ievans on Jan 21, 2009 8:50 AM PST up reply actions

Not really, but you will be when your Sharks don’t bomb in the first round for a change.

I'm back to doing what I love most and it feels great.
~ Claude Lemieux

by JonHaven on Jan 21, 2009 9:29 AM PST up reply actions

“Second round”, more appropriately — the Sharks haven’t been eliminated in the first round of the postseason since 2001.

Since then, they are 20-7 in first-round playoff games, advancing five times.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Jan 21, 2009 9:33 AM PST up reply actions

How about we wait and see if he sticks at the big club before awarding him the Conn Smythe?

Like I said, he was a hell of a player, and his playoff success was no accident. If he just made clutch plays, he wouldn’t have the reputation he has, though, and that other part of his game is the one I don’t like nor have much respect for. Maybe they’re inseparable.

by ievans on Jan 21, 2009 9:49 AM PST up reply actions

Apologizing to Claude? You’re a bigger man than I. Regardless of his many on-ice accomplishments, I can’t get over the many, many, many times I saw him do remarkably cheap things on the ice, dating all the way back to Montreal. Just not how I like to enjoy my hockey, so I must confess an irrational degree of my hopes are directed toward his comeback failing miserably.

Lighthouse Hockey: an SB Nation New York Islanders blog with hip issues.

by Dominik on Jan 19, 2009 4:58 PM PST reply actions

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