Dave Andreychuk insists he doesn't need a Stanley Cup to validate his career. Still, he can't hide his excitement at being this close with this club.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published May 25, 2004
BRANDON - At some point before the Lightning faces the Flames tonight in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final, Dave Andreychuk will take a walk.
The Lightning captain does this every game day. It clears his mind, loosens his legs and helps him focus on the task at hand. Andreychuk said he varies his path but lately has wandered the WestShore Plaza.
Andreychuk said he has walked this way since his second NHL season in Buffalo when assistant coach Red Berenson advised him.
"He said it made him feel good, so I've been doing it ever since," Andreychuk said.
Berenson, though, likely never walked on air, which is what Andreychuk has done the past few days. The left wing, 40, in his 22nd season and a sure Hall of Famer as one of the NHL's great goal scorers, is playing in his first Stanley Cup final.
Fulfilling that dream has been the main reason Andreychuk has not retired. It is why he increased his summer conditioning program. And it was a catalyst in his transformation from a pure goal scorer into a checking forward and faceoff specialist so valuable in the Lightning's development.
But Andreychuk said it is not about defining a career or winning a championship to secure his place in league history. Andreychuk said his career will be just fine without one.
It is simply about taking the next and most dramatic step in a career that has been as much about evolution as contributions.
How big will it be when Andreychuk skates onto the ice at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa? Consider he admitted to a silent yelp of delight when it sank in he finally would play for the Cup.
And consider that as the seconds counted down in the Lightning's Game 7 victory over the Flyers Saturday in the East final, Andreychuk's parents, Julian and Roz, wife Sue and sister Sandra were in the Times Forum stands, arms locked and crying.
"It was very emotional," Julian said. "Emotionally, I was running on high octane."
"For them it was a great day," Andreychuk said before Monday's practice at the Ice Sports Forum. "The emotions have been building up for quite some time. I feel good, not only for me but for them. They've been behind me the whole time."
The ultimate credit, though, is Andreychuk's, and it goes well beyond his 634 goals, 11th all time; his NHL-high 270 power-play goals; and his 19 20-goal seasons, behind only Gordie Howe (22) and Ron Francis (20).
Andreychuk has reinvented himself in the latter stages of his career. Once known only for scoring prowess, the native of Hamilton, Ontario, has morphed into a doggedly determined checker, penalty killer and faceoff man.
He can still score. His soft hands and nose for the net helped him to 21 goals and a third consecutive 20-goal season for Tampa Bay. But the other elements in his game - his determination on the puck, his long reach that gets his stick into passing lanes, taking defensive-zone faceoffs - have ensured Andreychuk a place in a game ruled by the speed and skill of the young.
"He's transformed himself and I don't think that is talked about enough," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "That's a tremendous accomplishment for a guy of his age and what he's done in the league to transform things to help a team win. He respects the game. He studies the game. He lives the game."
"It makes me feel good," Andreychuk said of how his game has evolved. "As a player it makes me feel like I've contributed a lot more. Still, with the 20 goals, everybody would like to be (at) 30 or 40. But when you get 20 and are doing other things, that makes you feel good."
Dan Boyle said nothing would be better than helping Andreychuk win a Stanley Cup. The Lightning defenseman said he was "shocked" when he found out Andreychuk never has played in a Cup final.
Boyle did not want to equate Andreychuk with Ray Bourque, the Avalanche defenseman who won his first Cup in his final season, because Andreychuk has said he wants to play at least another year.
Still, Boyle said there is a sense Andreychuk deserves it.
"He's just one of those guys you want to win the Cup for," Boyle said. "He exemplifies what a hockey player is. He really does. It's not like he's a fourth-line guy chipping in seven or eight minutes a game. He plays a lot of minutes and is in every key situation. He's one of our big guys. We want to win it for him."
And Andreychuk wants it badly. His 1,597 regular-season games are seventh all time and the most of any player without a Cup title. But he knows so many variables go into winning, it is foolish to count on it.
"If I don't win, is my career down the drain? I don't believe so," he said. "For me, I'm still playing for it. That's why I'm still in the league, but it wouldn't be the end of the world."
Flames left win Dave Lowry agreed.
"People talked about Dan Marino," he said of the former Dolphins quarterback who never won a Super Bowl. "Do you need to say that about Dan? He had a pretty pleasant career."
Said Tortorella: "I think Dave would prefer right now that it wasn't about him getting in (the final). It's about the Tampa Bay Lightning getting in. That's what he brings to the team, the understanding that it's not really an individual-type thing. We are here together. Dave doesn't need to be legitimized anymore. He's a Hall of Famer."
But ESPN analyst and former Kings coach Barry Melrose said a Stanley Cup championship would elevate Andreychuk from a "great" player to "unbelievable."
"And he should be thought of as one of the unique players that ever played the game with his size and ability," Melrose said.
"It would be just one less thing the critics could say about him ... and I think he'd like to get that "never won a Stanley Cup' away from his name."
Julian said that is not his son's motivation.
"It's been a tremendous ride on the roller coaster of the hockey world," Julian said. "Not riding the highest roller coaster does not mean you didn't have a great time as you go along.
"So many don't make it this far. For him, he's had a tremendous ride."
