Big-bodied NHL winger Dave Andreychuk earned his reputation as one of the NHL's best big men – and in this cover story from THN's Jan. 21, 1994 edition, then-editor-in-chief Steve Dryden chronicled Andreychuk's' rise to the top of the league's list of power forwards.
Longtime Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Dave Andreychuk was one of the NHL’s premier power forwards of his era – and in this cover story from THN’s Jan. 21, 1994 edition – Vol. 47, Issue 8 – THN editor-in-chief Steve Dryden profiled Andreychuk at that particular stage of his playing career.
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Andreychuk was in his prime with the Maple Leafs at the time of Dryden’s feature story, and he helped power them to consecutive conference final appearances while posting a career-best 53 goals and 99 points in the 1993-94 campaign. By that time, Andreychuk’s talents were no secret to the hockey world at large.
“He may have the best hands in the NHL around the net,” the Los Angeles Kings’ pro scout Rick Dudley said of Andreychuk.
“He holds the puck the way (iconic star Phil) Esposito used to hold it,” added Vancouver Canucks’ then-coach-GM Pat Quinn. “You never get at it. He protects it as well as any big man I’ve ever seen.”
Andreychuk’s 6-foot-3 frame and his determination to play at the front of the net made him a constant target for the opposition, but he kept his nose to the grindstone and did what he needed to do to make a difference.
“Regardless of what a guy is going to do to me,” Andreychuk told Dryden, “I want him to know that I’m going to be back. He could punch me in the back of the head 10 times, but the next shift I’m going to be right back there…My discipline level is pretty high, but I think going back for more shows this guy is pretty tough.”
Andreychuk won a Stanley Cup in his second-to-last NHL season, with Tampa Bay in 2003-04. He finished his career with 1,639 regular-season games played, 640 goals and 1,338 points. And he earned his reputation as one of the sport’s best big men.
“When I coached him (in Buffalo), he was a gritty player,” Dudley says. “He was a gritty, tough son of a bitch who’d do anything to win and nobody realized it.”
COMBAT ZONE DAVE’S DOMAIN
Vol. 47, No. 8, Jan. 21, 1994
By Steve Dryden
You say you want a Revolution?
Call Dave Andreychuk.
He has dozens of sticks-Koho Revolutions-being held in storage. The manufacturer keeps telling him they’re available.
But Andreychuk’s fibreglass-reinforced sticks last longer than the patience of most defensemen assigned to clear the front of the net. That’s where you’ll find the Toronto Maple Leaf left winger every game-entrenched in the NHL’s fiercest combat zone.
Look for No. 14, leaning heavily on his 60-inch stick (the maximum length allowed under NHL rules), back to the defenseman, reaching for passes, rebounds, loose pucks and the heights of NHL stardom.
Andreychuk has arrived.
It has taken 12 years and a trade from the Buffalo Sabres, but the slow-skating, fast-shooting forward has earned a place among the NHL elite. He is on pace for a second consecutive 50-goal year, his first 100-point season and a debut appearance on the post-season all-star team.
About the only thing Andreychuk hasn’t done since coming to Toronto is break a lot of sticks.
That’s partly because he doesn’t take a lot of slapshots and partly because he wraps fibreglass tape around the shaft of his Koho. Andreychuk likes it extra stiff – the better to bear the weight of his 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame (so defensemen can’t uproot his stick) and snap off deadly shots from the slot.
“I’ve converted a couple of the guys on the team,” Andreychuk says of the fibreglass customizing.
Why not? With 57 goals in 74 regular-season games as a member of the Leafs, Andreychuk has scored more goals than any player in the NHL since his arrival, Feb. 2, 1993. And you can add 12 goals in 21 playoff games last season when the Leafs shocked the hockey world by reaching the Stanley Cup semifinals.
“He may have the best hands in the NHL around the net,” says Los Angeles Kings’ pro scout Rick Dudley, who coached Andreychuk with the Sabres.
Andreychuk, 30, should be an embarrassment to the league. He is a plodder – a tortoise with good hair who excels in the new, faster, Eurofriendly NHL.
So, how does he do it? Brains, brawn and a high tolerance of pain. Plus, eight fingers and two thumbs that are pure magic. There is no secret to Andreychuk’s success, only strength and wisdom. He knows how to find holes in defensive zone coverage and how to fortify them once secured.
Keep the enemy to your backside.
“He holds the puck the way (former superstar Phil) Esposito used to hold it,” says Vancouver Canucks’ coach-general manager Pat Quinn. “You never get at it. He protects it as well as any big man I’ve ever seen.”
Make sure your weapon is always free.
“We used to say, ‘Just make sure you go out and tie up his stick,’” says Leafs’ coach Pat Bums, who coached against Andreychuk in Montreal.
Never surrender.
“Regardless of what a guy is going to do to me,” Andreychuk says, “I want him to know that I’m going to be back. He could punch me in the back of the head 10 times, but the next shift I’m going to be right back there.”
Does he respond in kind to back-bending crosschecks and jabs to the helmet?
“Probably not as much as I should,” Andreychuk says, “My discipline level is pretty high, but I think going back for more shows this guy is pretty tough.”
NHL great Mike Bossy used to say opponents could knock him down, but they couldn’t stop him from getting up. As for Andreychuk? “They can stop me from getting up,” he laughs. “They jump on my back the odd time.”
Yet, he keeps returning to the scene of their crimes, absorbing punishment and injuries that rarely keep him out of action, let alone dissuade him from entering the occupied territory.
Fact is, Andreychuk has suffered more at the hands of teammates than the fists of foes. Twice, his jaw was broken by Sabre slapshots. He’s on his third set of teeth. Andreychuk’s departure from Buffalo was a serious blow to the local dental community.
Yet, Andreychuk was considered inconsistent, dare we say weak-willed, in Buffalo, where the team had not advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs in 10 years. Word was you couldn’t count on Andreychuk to show up every night and a spotty playoff record-12 goals in 41 career games was Exhibit A.
Soft? As granite.
“When I coached him, he was a gritty player,” Dudley says. “He was a gritty, tough son of a bitch who’d do anything to win and nobody realized it.”
Dudley was fired by the time Buffalo dealt Andreychuk to Toronto and says he would not have traded him. But the Sabres, convinced they needed a premier goalie to compete in the Adams Division and intent on upgrading team speed, made a blockbuster trade.
They gave up Andreychuk, goalie Daren Puppa and a first-round draft pick for goalie Grant Fuhr and a midround draft pick. Andreychuk has flourished in Toronto, Puppa is gone and the first-round pick – Swedish defenseman Kenny Jonsson – is rated a blue-chip prospect. Fuhr helped the Sabres win that elusive playoff series, but has missed much of this season with a knee injury. Regardless, he has not shone like Andreychuk.
“The thing that has impressed me (about Andreychuk) is his competitiveness,” says Leafs’ GM Cliff Fletcher. “He is a real competitive player-far more than it was suggested in Buffalo. With David, it’s a quiet determination, but there’s no mistaking his determination.”
Burns has extracted the most from Andreychuk, giving him the opportunity to contribute in all areas of the game. Andreychuk plays right or left wing with Doug Gilmour – depending upon whether right winger Nikolai Borschevsky or left winger Wendel Clark is alongside them – works the power play, kills penalties and takes some key faceoffs.
Gilmour’s emergence as a superstar in his 10th season was considered a surprising development, but Andreychuk has also taken a huge step forward with the Leafs. No team has ever had two players hit elite-level status so late in their careers.
Coincidence? Not a chance.
“How do you think that comes about?” Andreychuk asks an interviewer.
“I don’t know,” he is told. “How?”
“Up top,” Andreychuk says.
“God or Cliff Fletcher?”
“Aren’t they the same?” Andreychuk says.
Bringing together Bums, Gilmour and Andreychuk has cemented Fletcher’s reputation as one of the shrewdest men in the NHL. They are fire and ice. Burns and Gilmour provide smoldering intensity and Andreychuk brings a cool professionalism that reflects no less commitment.
Andreychuk has played with some of the NHL’s best centers – Gilbert Perreault, Pierre Turgeon, Pat LaFontaine and, now, Gilmour. Nobody has complemented Andreychuk better than Gilmour, whose passing skills would be lost on a lesser player.
Gilmour is renowned as a great two-way player, but he is not alone. Andreychuk is excellent defensively, has improved his puckhandling and playmaking and is focused on making a difference more than on the scoresheet.
“I want to be a factor in every game,” he says.
Mission accomplished.
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