Hamilton, Raise Your Hammer High For Davie A.

Hamilton's native son, NHLer Dave Andreychuk, has been put on waivers by the Lightning.

Professional hockey's new look has claimed another famous victim. Three months after Brett Hull retired from the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes, the Tampa Bay Lightning put Hamilton native Dave Andreychuk on waivers yesterday. The move will likely end Andreychuk's impressive 23-year NHL career.

If Andreychuk clears waivers as expected, the Lightning will assign him to their American Hockey League team in Springfield, Mass. That allows them to remove what remains of Andreychuk's $800,000 salary from this year's salary cap calculations.

But Tampa Bay general manager Jay Feaster said in a lengthy statement on the club's website that the Lightning would not ask Andreychuk to report to the minor leagues, where he has never played, and would still pay him for the rest of the season.

Andreychuk has another year on his contract but the club did not say whether he would be paid that amount, should he retire. Hull, the third-leading goal scorer of all time, cited that sea change as the reason for his retirement. And although Andreychuk has the second-highest goals, assists and points totals of any left winger in NHL history, his portfolio of superb skills has never included "fleet of foot."

The Lightning's captain, who hoisted his first Stanley Cup in the spring of 2004, didn't comment directly but many spoke on the stars behalf. "I think, obviously, an athlete wants to continue playing," Andreychuk's father, Julian ,told The Spectator yesterday. "I believe he understands the game and that it was passing him by.

"No one knew how the game would change. At the beginning of this season, there was the understanding that they would see how it goes. They gave him a good shot -- 42 games."

Andreychuk told The Spectator last week he was frustrated with his diminishing playing time and conceded that a full year without playing during the bitter lockout had affected his timing. But he also felt that after two months of adjustment, he had rediscovered his touch. He had six goals, five on the power play, adding to his NHL record for goals scored at a man advantage.

"When we entered into the contract with David this summer, both sides did so in good faith, recognizing that no one would work harder in the summer preparing for the new season than David," Feaster said on the club website.

"Both sides understood that it would take some time to work through the impact of missing an entire season. What neither side could foresee was the type of game the 'new NHL' would be upon its return: a game in which speed and quickness carry the day.

"After giving ourselves half a season to evaluate and analyse, it became clear to us that David's game was not suited to the 'new NHL.'"

This move was foreshadowed in Montreal in November, when Andreychuk was a healthy scratch from a game for the first time in four years. Last week, Sportsnet reported that Feaster was shopping Andreychuk to the other 29 clubs.

Feaster remains an Andreychuk booster and praised what he'd done for the club since GM Rick Dudley brought the big winger to west Florida in 2001.

"There were times early in his time here that he carried the entire club on his back," Feaster said. Andreychuk's cool professionalism helped settle Vincent Lecavalier, who was having enormous trouble handling the double pressure of pending super stardom and wearing the captain's C. Andreychuk took over the captain's job and helped Lecavalier and Brad Richards, another star centre, make a smoother adjustment to the NHL.

As his playing time decreased, Andreychuk was aware that his teammates were watching to see how he handled the situation. So he accepted his reduced role stoically.

"But it was hard to captain from the caboose," his father quipped.

Out of respect for Andreychuk's enormous contributions to the growth of the franchise, Feaster and head coach John Tortorella met with Andreychuk on Monday, trying to work out a way that they could remove his salary from cap consideration, not have him play in the minors, and still pay him. It is believed that a high-ranking official from the players' association was also involved.

"They don't make hockey players like Dave Andreychuk any more," Feaster said yesterday. "From the moment he came to Tampa, he led by example and he helped our young players understand how to be professionals."

Andreychuk's strong-willed dedication to win a Stanley Cup after 22 seasons, 1,597 regular season games and 162 playoff games helped inspire the Lightning's championship run in the spring of 2004.

Some people, including his father, tried to talk Andreychuk into retiring then, so his greatest hockey moment would also be his last one.

A look at Dave Andreychuk's carrer

Dave Andreychuk entered the NHL as an 18-year old for Buffalo, close to his home in Hamilton that he could still pretty much live at home. He scored a goal in his first game, and in his first full season he scored 38 goals, establishing himself as a natural scorer.

During his first ten years with the Sabres, the team won only one of nine playoff series. Midway through the 1992-93 season he was involved in a major trade that sent him to the Toronto Maple Leafs with Daren Puppa and a draft choice for Grant Fuhr and a draft choice. The move rejuvenated his career, as he finished the season with 54 goals, one of the few times a player has hit the 50-mark during a year he was traded.

Andreychuk scored 53 the next year to break Frank Mahovlich's team record for a left-winger, but again in Toronto he didn't win a Cup and GM Cliff Fletcher sent him to New Jersey for two draft choices. He signed with Boston as a free agent but was traded to Colorado in the same deal that involved Ray Bourque, but still the Avs made it no farther than the semi-finals in the spring of 2000.

After a return stint with Buffalo in 2000-01, Andreychuk signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is one of only four players to score 30 or more power-play goals in a season and is the second-highest scoring right-winger in league history, surpassing the 600 goal-mark in 2002-03 and the 1,300 point mark the following year while captaining the Tampa Bay Lightning to their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history and Andreychuk's first of his illustrious 22-year career.

Internationally, he has won a bronze medal with Canada at the 1983 World Juniors and three years later won another bronze at the World Championships.

stats and gallery of action photos

Tidbits

Played in two NHL All-Star Game (1990, 1994).Traded to Toronto by Buffalo with Daren Puppa and Buffalo's 1st round choice (Kenny Jonsson) in 1993 Entry Draft for Grant Fuhr and Toronto's 5th round choice (Kevin Popp) in 1995 Entry Draft, February 2, 1993. Traded to New Jersey by Toronto for New Jersey's 2nd round choice (Marek Posmyk) in 1996 Entry Draft and New Jersey's 3rd round choice (later traded back to New Jersey - New Jersey selected Andre Lakos) in 1999 Entry Draft, March 13, 1996. Signed as a free agent by Boston, July 29, 1999. Traded to Colorado by Boston with Raymond Bourque for Brian Rolston, Martin Grenier, Samuel Pahlsson and New Jersey's 1st round choice (previously acquired, Boston selected Martin Samuelsson) in 2000 Entry Draft, March 6, 2000. Signed as a free agent by Buffalo, July 13, 2000. Signed as a free agent by Tampa Bay, July 13, 2001.

Andreychuk's first stop was to visit new friends at the Children's Hospitals

When Dave Andreychuk won the Stanley Cup he showed his class by immediately giving back his love to his fans of Hamilton. He showed up to McMaster Children's Hospital bringing the beautifully-polished trophy up and down the halls, visiting the children who are patients there and leaving the delighted kids with autographed photographs and specially-printed t-shirts. Dave then lugged the Stanley Cup up the hamilton escarpment to the backyard of his parents' home to the great delight of family, friends and neighbours who plastered their homes and garages with his pictures and then it was off to the newly renamed Dave Andreychuk Areana for a condragulatory speak.

more of the events

The cry of "Davie A!" will always be sunonomous with one of Hamilton's home grown children and forever the hammer will be held high in gratitude for everything this ledgend has accomplished.

Later,
Kenaz