Lecavalier Reaches 700 Points, Remains Questionable for Team Canada
Vincent Lecavalier has added yet another accomplishment to his young career, scoring 700 points by adding two assists in his team’s 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues Friday. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward has 310 goals and 390 assists in 11 NHL seasons.
“I didn’t know, so yeah, it’s great,” said Lecavalier. “Hopefully, there are many, many more. It’s exciting.”
The win over the Blues also helped the Lightning snap a six game winless streak and landed Steven Stamkos on the 20-goal plateau for the season, making it a very good night for fans in Tampa.
Whether this achievement will have any bearing on whether or not Lecavalier makes the Canadian Olympic team remains to be seen, of course, but he sure has to be hoping that it does. The sad reality is that he hasn’t been playing all that well this season and, despite making the milestone Friday, he’s not anywhere near the top of league scoring.
It’s fair to say, in fact, that Lecavalier has been experiencing one of his worst scoring slumps in his career so far. He probably should have reached the milestone earlier in the year, but his stats have been less than impressive. Steve Yzerman has doubtlessly taken all of this into consideration and the surefire Olympian Lecavalier very well may have played his way off the team.
With Team Canada taking a closer look at some possible bubble players, like Lecavalier’s teammate Stamkos, it’s possible that Vinnie’s 8 goals won’t be enough to put him over with Stevie Y.
So while Friday’s achievement and the Lightning win may have been enough to lift Lecavalier’s spirits for a moment, the long haul may present a more dismal picture to the player once thought to be a surefire addition to the Canadian Olympic hockey roster.
Posted by Jordan Richardson.
