#104 - Vincent Lecavalier

Vincent Lecavalier (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #104)

Adjusted Stats

1998-1999   TB         82 GP   15 goals   18 assists   33 points     0.40 PPG
1999-2000   TB         80 GP   28 goals   47 assists   75 points     0.94 PPG
2000-2001   TB         68 GP   26 goals   31 assists   57 points     0.84 PPG
2001-2002   TB         76 GP   23 goals   20 assists   43 points     0.57 PPG
2002-2003   TB         80 GP   38 goals   52 assists   90 points     1.13 PPG
2003-2004   TB*       81 GP   38 goals   41 assists   79 points     0.97 PPG
2005-2006   TB         80 GP   36 goals   41 assists   76 points     0.95 PPG
2006-2007   TB         82 GP   56 goals   60 assists   115 points   1.41 PPG
2007-2008   TB         81 GP   45 goals   59 assists   104 points   1.28 PPG
2008-2009   TB         77 GP   31 goals   41 assists   72 points     0.94 PPG
2009-2010   TB         82 GP   26 goals   50 assists   77 points     0.94 PPG
2010-2011   TB         65 GP   28 goals   33 assists   61 points     0.94 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

2002-2003   TB         11 GP    4 goals     4 assists     7 points      0.65 PPG
2003-2004   TB*       23 GP    11 goals   9 assists     20 points    0.89 PPG
2005-2006   TB         5 GP       1 goal      3 assists     4 points     0.80 PPG
2006-2007   TB         6 GP       6 goals    2 assists     8 points      1.32 PPG
2010-2011   TB         18 GP     6 goals    13 assists   19 points    1.06 PPG

Career - 934 GP, 395 goals, 493 assists, 882 points, 0.94 PPG
Career-Highs - 56 goals (06-07); 60 assists (06-07); 115 points (06-07); 1.41 PPG (06-07)
Avg. (12 seasons) - 78 GP, 33 goals, 41 assists, 74 points, 0.94 PPG
Peak Avg. (02-11) - 79 GP, 37 goals, 47 assists, 84 points, 1.07 PPG, 1 Cup

Playoff Career - 63 GP, 28 goals, 31 assists, 58 points, 0.92 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 11 goals (03-04); 13 assists (10-11); 20 points (03-04); 1.32 PPG (06-07)

Accolades - 1 Richard Trophy
All-Star Teams - 1-time 2nd-team
1-time Stanley Cup Champion

Of all of the NHL stars of the 2000s, I'm having a hard time thinking of one who has had a more rollercoaster career than Vincent Lecavalier. Put it this way: it's so much of a rollercoaster, there is a good chunk of people who wouldn't even currently list Lecavalier as a "star".

He was drafted first overall in 1998 with scouts projecting a star who could approach the levels of Mario Lemieux (going up). Rushed into the league at 18, he struggled through his rookie season despite having huge pressure put on him by his owner, who proclaimed that Lecavalier was "the Michael Jordan of hockey" (plummeting down).

After four seasons of growth amidst heavy criticism, Lecavalier finally blossomed in 2002-2003, scoring 90 adjusted points, then followed it up by helping the Tampa Bay Lightning win the franchise's first Stanley Cup. Although Lecavalier didn't put up extremely impressive numbers during their Cup win, he did come up with some key plays that reminded everyone of how talented he could be. Lecavalier followed this up with a great performance at the World Cup of Hockey, and a dominant 2006-2007 season in which he won the Rocket Richard trophy and had 115 points (going way, way up).

At this point, it's important to note that Lecavalier was in the discussion for the best center in hockey. He was physical, would occasionally fight if necessary, scored 45-50 goals and 100 points and was a great leader. No wonder Tampa Bay signed him to a mammoth contract. And yet, since that point, Lecavalier's game has tapered off considerably, with trade rumours seemingly an annual event, a +/- that would put him in contention for the Green Jacket, a no-show for Canada at the 2006 Olympics, and steadily declining production (if this were a roller coaster, we'd have entered the Drop Zone).

So how have I judged Lecavalier's contradictory career? On the one hand, in a twelve-year career (including the lackluster season he's currently going through), his team has made the playoffs only four times and he's averaged over a point-a-game only three times (amazing for a supposed "star" center). As mentioned, his career +/- is a brutal -10 per 82 games, and that's not entirely due to him playing on bad teams (at the time of this writing, Tampa Bay is in second-place in the East, but Lecavalier is still a -6). His status as Tampa's #1 center has been firmly supplanted by amazing youngster Steven Stamkos, meaning that Lecavalier no longer benefits from the chemistry he had with Martin St. Louis (who perhaps was the key to Lecavalier's success all these years...St. Louis hasn't missed a beat now playing with Stamkos).

But on the other hand, Lecavalier has won a Stanley Cup. There was a time, albeit brief (perhaps two and half years) where he was considered quite possibly the league's best center, and that's not something a lot of people can say. And he's still only thirty years old. Even if we take a worst-case projection and say that Lecavalier plays another seven years, averages a middling 25-28 goals and 60-65 points per season, you're still talking about 500+ career goals and 1200+ career points. Will those numbers be a trifle Ciccarelliesque? Yes, but they're still hard to ignore.

For those reasons, it's hard to argue that Lecavalier doesn't belong on the Pyramid, and eventually in the Hall of Fame, even if his career has seemed lacking at times. And there's always the possibility that Lecavalier will regain the form he showed from 2004 to 2007. Even one or two more seasons like that would be enough to vault Lecavalier up another fifteen or twenty spots on my list. But if that brilliance never returns, we'll still be left with the memory of that brief time when Lecavalier made the Michael Jordan comparisons seem just a little less ridiculous.

Postscript #1 (end of 2011 playoffs) - The Lecavalier roller-coaster seems to be reaching a high point again. He reminded us of his greatness in a 2011 run by Tampa Bay to the Eastern Conference finals, being one of only two players that averaged over a point a game in the 2011 postseason (the other being teammate Martin St. Louis).