What were expectations for Lemieux in his 2000 comeback?
I don't remember the comeback at all, but having talked to some family their opinions on the comeback were wildly varying. Some thought he'd be a fourty point bum and other thought he'd walk away with the Art Ross.
So, HoH, what was the general consensus on what Lemieux was going to do in his comeback?
I don't remember the comeback at all, but having talked to some family their opinions on the comeback were wildly varying. Some thought he'd be a fourty point bum and other thought he'd walk away with the Art Ross.
So, HoH, what was the general consensus on what Lemieux was going to do in his comeback?
I know I had great expectations. It was wonderful to watch and he was fantastic right from the first game.
i will admit i didn't have high expectations at all. especially with jagr in a funk, i thought he was going to be sub-PPG. like gretzky in his last year.
then i watched his first game back on tsn. holy crap.
Very excited that's for sure. I remember Harry Neale mentioning even before Lemieux's first game back that he hopes Mario comes back to the NHL, tears it up, and then dominates at the 2002 Olympics. When Mario was retired from 1997-'00 it was a common belief that he could strap on the skates and come back and win the scoring title whenever he wanted. People just really believed that from Mario. His 2000-'01 and 2002-'03 seasons showed that he could still dominate for stretches. Unfortunately the rest of the time he was dogged with injuries, but not before playing very well in the 2002 Olympics and 2004 World Cup. Canada never lost a best on best tournament with Mario there.
It was hard to get a read on it, because I don't think anyone wanted to rain on the parade. In his last year in 1997, he had a really hot start, but looked mortal towards the end. I figured he'd keep up with Kovalev, who was looking like their best player (and I think their leading scorer at the time of Lemieux's debut), but I didn't think he'd become the best player in hockey again - with all due respect to Joe Sakic.
I remember having very high expectations and I recall Don Cherry fully agreeing with those expectations.
Aside from the 2000-01 season and the first 21 games of 2002-03 (45 points!), I found it disappointing. Not that it wasn't great to having him back or that I haven't learned to better appreciate it in retrospect, but I really wanted to see gaudy stats in the dead puck era from Lemieux and was always left wanting more in that regard.
I remember a friend of mine calling to tell me he was coming back and we were both pretty excited and figured he would once again be the best scorer in the league. Definitely lived up to those expectations over the final half of the season. Too bad that injuries didn't let him play too much after, though his Olympics and '03 season were still very good.
I don't remember the comeback at all, but having talked to some family their opinions on the comeback were wildly varying. Some thought he'd be a fourty point bum and other thought he'd walk away with the Art Ross.
So, HoH, what was the general consensus on what Lemieux was going to do in his comeback?
i "knew" he was going to be better than a PPG player. i remember sitting at my computer for 3 days straight until his name finally popped up on my yahoo fantasy hockey league. i snatched him up right away. i remember dropping bobby holik to make room for Mario.
needless to say, there were high expectations. once Jagr left, however, i didnt expect much.
I was actually really worried. I knew he'd be effective but I figured his age, injury and rust would be really obvious, and I think I felt kind of cynical about his motive, being the owner and all. I'm a cynical guy. I probably would have guessed he'd be a PPG PP specialist. It was crazy to see him start lighting it up from game 1.
It was hard to get a read on it, because I don't think anyone wanted to rain on the parade. In his last year in 1997, he had a really hot start, but looked mortal towards the end. I figured he'd keep up with Kovalev, who was looking like their best player (and I think their leading scorer at the time of Lemieux's debut), but I didn't think he'd become the best player in hockey again - with all due respect to Joe Sakic.
1997? Aren't we talking about 2000-01?
As for Kovalev, he was nowhere near the second best player for the Penguins. A Jagr with 121 Pts says hello.
The same Jagr who had 84 Pts in his last 45 games (1.87 PPG) to Lemieux' 76 Pts in 43 games (1.77 PPG).
I always thought he came back in 2000 to prep himself for the 2002 Olympics and lead Canada to the gold medal which he did.
The official story was he came back to improve the team to raise their value. The actual story is he came back to inflate his ego and play for the olympics. It was quite obvious that as a player he cared very little for the Penguins after his return.
The official story was he came back to improve the team to raise their value. The actual story is he came back to inflate his ego and play for the olympics. It was quite obvious that as a player he cared very little for the Penguins after his return.
I am referencing the fact that he would refuse to play games for the Penguins while taking part in the all star game and olympics. The 01/02 season was a perfect example of selfishness. he started the season, missed a ton of time, played the all star game, missed a bunch more time, played the olympics, and then said he was done for the year.
