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Flyers great LeClair inducted into U.S. Hockey HallBOSTON, Dec 02, 2009 (Philadelphia Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- John LeClair has never been one for the spotlight. Last night, at his induction with the 37th class into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, the soft-spoken, small-town boy from St. Albans, Vt., could barely hang on stage long enough to have his entire family introduced. He doesn't revel in being the center of attention. "This isn't my thing, so please bear with me," LeClair said to begin his remarks. "You'll see that most of the goals I scored were on an empty net." After he credited his coaches -- including the one who first cut him from a team in high school -- his genuine, insightful nature shone through. Through all of the hoopla surrounding Eric Lindros and the Flyers in the second half of the 1990s, LeClair was the one enduring symbol of the turnaround of a franchise that struggled in the early part of the decade. The ironic thing is that LeClair never wanted to come to Philadelphia, where he wound up playing 10 years. He was perfectly content in the francophone confines of Montreal -- a little more than an hour and a half from his hometown -- where he won the Stanley Cup in 1993. "I want to thank Bob Clarke," LeClair said of the man who traded for him on Feb. 9, 1995. "He turned an 'I couldn't believe they traded me' into a 'What happened?' a few months later after I played with the Flyers." Prior to the ceremony, LeClair voiced regrets that still haunt him -- more than 5 years after he left the Flyers. "I have two regrets from playing," LeClair explained. "One was not beating Canada in the 2002 [Olympic] gold-medal game. The other was not bringing a Cup to Philadelphia. "We had some really good teams. To not have a Stanley Cup ring [with the Flyers] is really disappointing. There were many occasions where we had a chance to win but didn't. It would've been nice -- it's a great hockey town. I was fortunate I got to stay there for a long time." He also said that he didn't mind the Philly fans' tough love, especially when he wasn't playing well. They never punctured LeClair's thick skin. "A lot of people say [the fans] are too harsh," said LeClair, who lives in Haverford with his wife and three children. "I kind of like that. They were tremendous fans -- very passionate. It keeps people honest. It makes you demand a little more out of yourself." Because the fans demanded a little more of LeClair, last night may not have been the last awkward speech he will have to make. He may have earned invites to two or three other Halls. LeClair has not yet been chosen for the Flyers' Hall of Fame, with the organization opting to slide back in time to induct Dave Schultz on Nov. 16 as its 20th member. But there may be an even bigger honor in the waiting. Since LeClair retired during the 2006-07 season, he is not eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto until the class of 2011. It turns out that one of his biggest supporters for hockey's biggest Hall is Clarke. "He was a five-time NHL All-Star ," Clarke said recently. "That's almost unheard of. He was one of the top, top players in the league for a long time." Clarke himself was only voted as an NHL All-Star (first or second team) by the Professional Hockey Writers Association four times -- and he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Clarke insisted that LeClair wasn't just a product of his Legion of Doom linemates, Lindros and Mikael Renberg. "Even in the years after Lindros, he was still among the top five or six scorers in the game," Clarke said. "It's pretty amazing. His back [injuries] basically slowed his career down, but he was an awful good player. He was the most dominant player at his position." "He was the guy that everyone dreamed of having," said former Flyer Tony Amonte, one of LeClair's fellow inductees. LeClair said it was those games skating alongside Lindros and Renberg that stick out the most. "The feeling you got playing every night on a line with Mikael and Eric was unbelievable," LeClair said. "Those guys gave me a ton of confidence; there was nothing I couldn't do. There wasn't a game we weren't going to win." Clarke thinks that LeClair, with 333 goals in a Flyers uniform, has cemented himself as one of the best forwards to ever play in Philadelphia. "I'm not sure that we've had a goal-scoring left wing like him -- before or after," Clarke said. "No one did what John did in terms of league recognition. Looking back on it, it's extremely impressive." LeClair, unassumingly humble, didn't quite see himself fit for the U.S. Hall of Fame. He said it was "beyond his wildest dreams" to be included with names like Amonte and two-time Stanley Cup winner Tom Barrasso. Hockey's cathedral in Ontario would be a totally different game. The Flyers have not had a player inducted into the Hall since Bill Barber in 1990. "Don't get me wrong," LeClair said, "I would absolutely love to go in. I think it's the biggest honor you can have as a hockey player. But if you look at the standards set by those that have gone in before me, I don't know if I meet those. "This is an honor in itself." For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers. To see more of the Philadelphia Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/dailynews. Copyright (c) 2009, Philadelphia Daily News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |