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Joe Sakic's career retrospective

IggyFan12

IggyFan12

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
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For a player who has never said very much Joe Sakic has been around controversy his whole hockey career. When you think of everything Sakic has been around its amazing he was able to have the career that he did. Here are a few of the good times that Sakic was apart of and bad times. These 19 events shaped the career of one of the greatest all around players in history:

1) In Junior was in a bus crash that killed team mates.- This must have been a very tramatic experience for Sakic especially when he was so young.

2) Was coached by Grahm James in Junior- Even thinking about James makes me sick. In Fleurys book he said he doesnt believe James ever molested Sakic, but knowing that someone you trusted was capable of that would very hard to deal with.

3) Eric Lindros declines Quebec- Lindros was drafted to the Nordiques where Sakic happened to be the captain of. This probably made Sakic very angry but I dont remember him saying anything about it.

4)No Goal- Joe Sakic scores what appears to be a goal for the Nordique against the Rangers in the 95 playoffs. The goal is waived off as Kovalev was *injured* in the Quebec zone. The Nordiques loose the series.

5) Team relocates- Moved from Quebec where he spent up until that point his entire career across the continent to Colorado.

*6) Patrick Roy- After getting light up by the Wings Patrick Roy mocks the home town Fans of Montreal. He is later traded to Joe Sakic's Avs. The team struggles at first with Patrick Roy but manage to find their game.

7) Claude Lemiuxe hits Draper from behind- An incident where when you watch the clip you can see Sakic in the background when the hit happens. A very controversial incident which Sakics was involved.

8)First Cup- The Avs win their first Stanley Cup, in Triple OT when Krupp scores while Sakic is on the Ice. Sakic scores 18 goals that playoffs good for 2nd all time and finishes the season with a career best 120 points.

*9)Offer Sheet- In the Summer of 1996 fresh off his Stanley Cup win and Con Smyth performance the Rangers offer Sakic an incredable amount of money for a 2 year contract. The contract would of allowed Sakic to play with Gretzky and perhaps Sakic would have helped the Rangers stay relevant during Gretzkys last years. This was also responsible for driving up salaries and was one of the reasons for the lock out which occured in 2004-2005.

10) The brawl in Detroit- The next year Sakic's Avs were in to play the Wings when one of the biggest brawls errupted and again Sakic was playing that night.

11) Nagano-Sakic was on the Nagano team but was injured and was prevented from shooting in the shoot-out against Hasek. Had he been healthy you know Crawford would have used his captain that night. History could have been rewritten if Sakic wasn't injured.

12) Bourque gets Traded- Ray Bourque got traded from Boston to fulfil his dream of winning the Stanley Cup. In 2001 Sakic wins the Hart Trophy as league MVP and leads the league in playoff scoring. After the Cup is won Sakic doesnt raise it above his head like every other Captain to ever win the Stanley Cup. Instead he gives it right to Bourque.

13) Sakic gets his 2nd chance at Olympic gold and makes no mistake. Sakic gets 2g 2a and wins Gold and is the only forward named MVP of the Olympics since NHLers have been allowed to play.

14) At the All Star game Joe Sakic scores a Hat Trick for the West All stars and wins MVP honors. Sakic is first all time in terms of All Star assists with 16 and third in points with 22.

15) Todd Bertuzzi- Things were relatively quite for Sakic until Bertuzzi punched Moore from behind and ended his career. This happened against the Avs again against a team Sakic was captain of.

16) Sakic captains Canadas most dissapointing Olympic team ever when the team finishes 7th and Bertuzzi is on his team.

17) Sakic becomes the 2nd oldest player to score 100 points when after the lock-out puts up 100 points as the Avs just barely miss the playoffs.

18)Beats the Rocket- In Sakics last playoffs in a first round series against the Wild Sakic scores his last playoff OT goal to give him 8 in a career, pushing him past the Rocket for most all time.

19) Sakic who many people think will be Captain of Canada in Vancouver 2010 injures his hand in a snow blower incident and retires. Sakic retires the only man to win the Hart, Con Smyth and Olympic MVP trophies and 8th all time in points in NHL history.

Its amazing that a career that started with Sakic nearly loosing his life that he was able a poise and elgance about him. It would be very interesting to see what Sakic has to say about these incidents.

Is it just me or would Sakic's life make a great documentary?

*Fixed. I have added 2 more incidents. The 96 offer sheet which was correctly pointed out to me and the Patrick Roy Trade. I have put the events in chronological order as well as added a couple to give 19 events.*
 
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IggyFan12 said:
3) Eric Lindros declines Quebec- Lindros was drafted to the Nordiques where Sakic happened to be the captain of. This probably made Sakic very angry but I dont remember him saying anything about it.
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I tried to go back and see what Sakic said in the press about Lindros. During the holdout he was pretty tight-lipped, saying stuff like, "I hope he decides to come." Or: "The players don't talk about it, because it has nothing to do with us." And he reportedly talked to Lindros a few times about coming to Quebec City, but it obviously never panned out. After the trade he was remarkably upbeat and saying stuff like, "I think we're going to be a lot better off than Philadelphia."

Interestingly, Sakic was part of the reason the Nordiques had such trouble signing Lindros early on. At the time, Sakic was only making about $290,000 per year, but he had a clause in his contract saying that he had to be the highest paid player on the team. So if Lindros got $3 million or whatever (just a shade less than Gretzky was making), Sakic would've had to get the same, and the Nords would have been really hurting.

Note also that Sakic got cut in favor of Lindros (among others) for the '91 Canada Cup squad.
 
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Dissonance said:
I tried to go back and see what Sakic said in the press about Lindros. During the holdout he was pretty tight-lipped, saying stuff like, "I hope he decides to come." Or: "The players don't talk about it, because it has nothing to do with us." And he reportedly talked to Lindros a few times about coming to Quebec City, but it obviously never panned out. After the trade he was remarkably upbeat and saying stuff like, "I think we're going to be a lot better off than Philadelphia."

Interestingly, Sakic was part of the reason the Nordiques had such trouble signing Lindros early on. At the time, Sakic was only making about $290,000 per year, but he had a clause in his contract saying that he had to be the highest paid player on the team. So if Lindros got $3 million or whatever (just a shade less than Gretzky was making), Sakic would've had to get the same, and the Nords would have been really hurting.

Note also that Sakic got cut in favor of Lindros (among others) for the '91 Canada Cup squad.
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I had no idea Sakic had that in his contract thats very interesting.

Thanks for shedding some light about what he said to the media during the Lindros holdout I was unaware of that.
 
Don't forget the very impactful offer sheet by the Rangers. Wasn't it at least partly responsable for the huge increase in salary during the mid-90's.
 
IggyFan12 said:
4) Team relocates- Moved from Quebec where he spent up until that point his entire career across the continent to Colorado and then winning the Stanley Cup in their first year in Colorado, in Triple OT when Krupp scores while Sakic is on the Ice.

*5) Patrick Roy- After getting light up by the Wings Patrick Roy mocks the home town Fans of Montreal. He is later traded to Joe Sakic's Avs. The team struggles at first with Patrick Roy but manage to find their game.

6) Claude Lemiuxe hits Draper from behind- An incident where when you watch the clip you can see Sakic in the background when the hit happens. A very controversial incident which Sakics was involved.

7) The brawl in Detroit- The next year Sakic's Avs were in to play the Wings when one of the biggest brawls errupted and again Sakic was playing that night.

*8)Offer Sheet- In the Summer of 1996 fresh off his Stanley Cup win and Con Smyth performance the Rangers offer Sakic an incredable amount of money for a 2 year contract. The contract would of allowed Sakic to play with Gretzky and perhaps Sakic would have helped the Rangers stay relevant during Gretzkys last years. This was also responsible for driving up salaries and was one of the reasons for the lock out which occured in 2004-2005.
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1. team relocates
2. roy gets traded
3. claude lemieux hit from behind
4. cup
5. brawl in hockeytown
6. offer sheet

your chronological order is wack
 
Always liked Sakic. One of the better players of his time. Top 25 player of all-time easily. That said half of those controversies didn't involve Sakic.
 
Salaries were on the rise anyways. If the offer sheet hadn't gone to Sakic, it would've gone to somebody else.

If anything, St. Louis signing Scott Stevens seven years earlier was a bigger influence.
 
Dissonance said:
I tried to go back and see what Sakic said in the press about Lindros. During the holdout he was pretty tight-lipped, saying stuff like, "I hope he decides to come." Or: "The players don't talk about it, because it has nothing to do with us." And he reportedly talked to Lindros a few times about coming to Quebec City, but it obviously never panned out. After the trade he was remarkably upbeat and saying stuff like, "I think we're going to be a lot better off than Philadelphia."

Interestingly, Sakic was part of the reason the Nordiques had such trouble signing Lindros early on. At the time, Sakic was only making about $290,000 per year, but he had a clause in his contract saying that he had to be the highest paid player on the team. So if Lindros got $3 million or whatever (just a shade less than Gretzky was making), Sakic would've had to get the same, and the Nords would have been really hurting.

Note also that Sakic got cut in favor of Lindros (among others) for the '91 Canada Cup squad.
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This makes no sense to me. Lindros didn't want to play in Quebec anyways so what difference would it have made? Plus even if Sakic did have that clause in his contract and he would have renegotiated to take it out why would a team like the nordiques give anybody that type of money? How could they possible afford it?
 
Sakic is well known as one of the most clutch players of his era, but how about his playoff performances in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002? He was close to brutal in many of those rounds (with the exception of series against San Jose in 1999 and 2002).
 
Padan said:
Sakic is well known as one of the most clutch players of his era, but how about his playoff performances in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002? He was close to brutal in many of those rounds (with the exception of series against San Jose in 1999 and 2002).
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You could say the same thing about any player with 150+ playoff games. It just applies to Sakic a lot less often.
 
I remember one that most people probably don't, or will be surprised to hear about. (But this isn't intended as a criticism of Sakic's legacy.)

In the final game of the 1997-98 regular season Sakic collided mid-ice with an oppoenent (maybe a Red Wing, can't remember for sure). It was determined that Sakic stuck his knee out in the collision and he got suspended for one game. That game was Colorado's playoff opener against the Oilers.

The Avalanche controlled the game and led 2-0 in the third period before allowing three unanswered goals to blow what seemed like an easy win, losing 3-2. They won the next three games before gassing the series with three straight losses. If they have their captain in Game 1, maybe they don't unravel and end up sweeping the series.
 
game 82 of 97/98 was indeed against the Wings.

It's a nice chronology, but for the most part 'he's been around controversy' in the sense that he was 'in the general area,' except for maybe that offer sheet.
 
IggyFan12 said:
1) In Junior was in a bus crash that killed team mates.- This must have been a very tramatic experience for Sakic especially when he was so young.

He's credited the crash with making him more reserved than he already was (didn't speak English until kingergarten; spoke Croatian at home): "The crash made me more careful and cautious about how I do things."

3) Eric Lindros declines Quebec- Lindros was drafted to the Nordiques where Sakic happened to be the captain of. This probably made Sakic very angry but I dont remember him saying anything about it.

Made a rather bold comment actually: ""We only want players here who have the passion to play the game. I'm tired of hearing that name. He's not here and there are a lot of others in this locker room who really care about the game."


*9)Offer Sheet- In the Summer of 1996 fresh off his Stanley Cup win and Con Smyth performance the Rangers offer Sakic an incredable amount of money for a 2 year contract. The contract would of allowed Sakic to play with Gretzky and perhaps Sakic would have helped the Rangers stay relevant during Gretzkys last years. This was also responsible for driving up salaries and was one of the reasons for the lock out which occured in 2004-2005.

Offer sheet was actually in 1997, after Messier was signed by the Canucks.


13) Sakic gets his 2nd chance at Olympic gold and makes no mistake. Sakic gets 2g 2a and wins Gold and is the only forward named MVP of the Olympics since NHLers have been allowed to play.

That was only his gold medal totals; he had 4g 3a 7pts in the games.
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Added some comments about it. He is really one of the best players ever.
 
I met him at Bob Hartley's hockey camp a few years back. One of the friendliest people I've ever met in my life.

Dany Heatley on the other hand..
 
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