After a 17-year career, Vincent Lecavalier has called it quits in a move that wasn’t a surprise to anyone. His midseason move from the Flyers to the Kings was a reclamation project that actually seemed to work out for the always contending Kings.
I wrote in my midseason piece about Lecavalier’s trade that I believed that the Flyers won the trade by a large margin. Analyzing it now, it looks more like a win-win scenario for both sides. Lecavalier had 17 points in 42 games for the Kings, proving that he wasn’t a bad bottom-six option for the team.
Hopefully Lecavalier’s legacy won’t be his past few seasons as he should be known as one of the best scorers of his generation when he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning. During the 06-07 season he had 108 points while winning the Rocket Richard trophy, an honor given to the top goal scorer in the league.
At no point in time was Lecavalier the problem for the Los Angeles Kings and their short lived playoff run, but I am not entirely sure that he helped either. Regardless, Lecavalier’s legacy won’t live on in Los Angeles or Philadelphia, but rather Tampa Bay where he is still viewed as a living legend.
Not a bad way to go out for Vinny.
