If the Carolina Hurricanes go on to win the Stanley Cup, one of the more gratifying sights will be when veteran defenseman Glen Wesley finally gets to lift the trophy.
Ray Bourque, Wesley’s one-time teammate with the Boston Bruins, was in a class by himself in the waiting-for-the-Cup department, but maybe it’s fair to say Wesley is this year’s Dave Andreychuk.
Andreychuk played for a Cup champion for the first time at age 40, two years ago with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though he tried to play this season, it turned out his odometer rolled over during the lockout and his career ended ignominiously.
Wesley is only 37, but it seems as if he has been around forever. I saw him play his final two seasons of major junior, when he was with the Portland Winter Hawks and I was working in Oregon. Even then, he was quiet and steady, without much flash. Twenty years later, even when the anti-obstruction standards and new rules opened up the game, making many slow, stay- at-home defensemen archaic, he managed to remain effective.
Except for a seven-game stint as a trading-deadline acquisition, a rental, with Toronto at the end of the 2002-03 season, he has been with the Carolina franchise from the start of its stay in Raleigh. In 1994, he was traded from the Bruins to Hartford, and Wesley had three seasons of hearing “Brass Bonanza” before the franchise shifted to North Carolina. He even went through the transition period of playing in Greensboro and was with the ‘Canes when their practice facilities in Raleigh were relatively primitive.
“Yeah, we used to dress upstairs and come downstairs to practice,” Wesley said. “And then the driving to Greensboro and back. There were a lot of things we did in the past, but you’re seeing the benefits paying off down the road.
“You’re seeing how much this franchise has grown. Really, at first, all people cared about was college basketball and NASCAR. Now, it’s hockey, and it’s turned into a Southern sport. We knew coming into this that it was going to take some time.”
The ‘Canes have three other 35-plus veterans who haven’t played for a Cup winner – centers Rod Brind’Amour and Doug Weight, and defenseman Bret Hedican. The oldest ‘Cane, Mark Recchi, 38, was on a Cup-winning team at Pittsburgh early in his career in 1991.
“My first year in the league it was as important as it is now,” Brind’Amour said of the pursuit of the Cup. “I’ve never taken it for granted.” He paused. “But obviously, now I know what it would mean.”
Nolan’s back
The New York Islanders’ hiring of Ted Nolan as coach ends a puzzling absence for the man who won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s coach of the year with Buffalo in 1997 – but left because of a contract dispute and didn’t land another job.
He was in business and coached his son’s team and got back into high-profile coaching this season with Moncton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Wildcats won the QMJHL playoff title and were the host team in the Memorial Cup, the three-league championship tournament for Canadian major junior. They lost the championship game to the Patrick Roy-coached Quebec Remparts.
But during a month when the Wildcats and Remparts met nine times, Roy was candid with Quebec reporters, saying that playing against Nolan made him realize he still had some things to learn about coaching. That rare burst of modesty was a huge compliment to Nolan, who now is back in the league in concert with new Islanders general manager Neil Smith.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
