Claude Lemieux to Play Against Vancouver

After almost six years since his last NHL game, Claude Lemieux was recalled from Worchester to play for the San Jose Sharks Tuesday night against Vancouver, their last game before the All-Star break.  Lemieux is 43 years old and has won 4 Stanley Cups in 20 seasons, and has the ninth-most playoff goals with 80.

There is a lot of upside to this.  Lemieux brings a lot of playoff experience, which is probably the number one thing GM Doug Wilson was looking for these past few years in building a Stanley Cup championship team.  In a team full of youth, Lemieux adds to the veteranship that guys like Rob Blake and Jeremy Roenick were brought in for.  And he is an enforcer, and will probably play on the Shark's fourth line with Jody Shelley and Roenick (when he is back from injury) to become a part of what looks to be the most hard-nosed line in the NHL.  Don't be surprised if Lemieux and Shelley start double-teaming people.

Here's the downside: in 23 minor league games, he scored 3 goals, had 8 assists, was punished for 24 minutes, and had a rating of plus 2.  Now that might seem like a decent amount, especially since he'll be playing on the fourth line anyways, which hasn't exactly produced as much as the other three lines.  But if you're scoring 11 points in 23 MINOR league games, that sums up to about... 11 points in the remaining 39 regular season games?  The Sharks have already proved (twice) they can beat Detroit without Lemieux.  Heck, Shelley didn't even mess around with any Red Wings in their three meetings.  The Sharks don't need another enforcer, they need an intelligent skater who either is a pure scorer or is an all-around guy, adding to both defense and offense.  Now, I haven't seen Lemieux play this year yet, and Doug Wilson has apparantly watched every minor league shift Lemieux has taken.  So maybe after 5 years of retirement, Lemieux has rekindled his athleticism.  Doug Wilson said he is "genetically-gifted" after all.  But unless Lemieux can get into the heads of playoff teams so much that they get taken off their game plan, or he proves he can do better than 11 points in 23 games, or he adds to the speed and size of the Sharks (or if he can fight like this), I'm not buying his recall.

If you wanna know the history of Lemieux and why some Sharks fans are excited about playing him against the Red Wings in the playoffs:

which commenced...

This is also why Patrick Roy is the greatest goaltender of all time... Most shutouts, 2nd in Wins, and he is a brawler.

*edit*
Oh and if you're wondering how many of the Detroit Red Wing's current bench were actually playing when Lemieux skated for the Avs, just think of names like Osgood, Holmstrom, Chelios, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Maltby, and of course Kris Draper.  About half of the Red Wing's active roster played for the Red Wings since '96.