WASHINGTON — Milan Hejduk walks out of the Verizon Center after a 2-1 Avalanche loss to the Capitals on Wednesday night, the team’s sixth defeat in seven games. It’s the eighth consecutive game he has had the stat line of 0-0-0. To top it off, he has some raging sinus issues.
On the final strides to the team bus, a crowd waits behind a velvet rope and one man leans over with a glossy photo of Hejduk lifting the Stanley Cup in 2001. A glorious past on Kodak paper meets a sniffling, scoreless man of the present, and the conversation takes an inward turn.
“I try not to think about times like this, but it’s tough,” Hejduk told The Denver Post. “You want to do well, and you try to do your best, and sometimes it’s just not working. But then you see yourself with the Stanley Cup over your head, and you know you’ve got two healthy children back home, and you know that the big picture is still good. But right now, right here, not so much.”
Hejduk, the NHL’s top goal-scorer in 2002-03 with 50 goals, is one of the top two players the Avalanche looks to for production and leadership in the wake of losing Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth to long-term injuries.
While the Czech native is too quiet and shy to be a drum-beating vocal leader in the locker room, his on-ice leadership is something that is supposed to keep the team steady without Smyth and Sakic.
But until Saturday night against Carolina, Hejduk had not recorded a point in January.
With the Avs in fourth place in the Northwest Division and the season past the midpoint, time is getting short, and Hejduk feels the pressure.
“It’s a tough time. You try not to think about it much, but it is a factor,” Hejduk said. “This is your job. You’re paid a lot of money to do it. So when it’s not happening, nothing feels good. Nothing.”
Kind of like when he joined the Avs as a rookie in 1998-99. His first few weeks were traumatic. He could speak only limited English, having just arrived from the Czech Republic. Early in his rookie season, he was falsely accused in a locker-room meeting as being one of the players who went to the media complaining that Eric Lacroix, the son of the general manager at the time, was a distracting presence. Here was Hejduk, an unassuming rookie who barely spoke English, being accused of bad-mouthing the GM’s son.
That incident never helped Hejduk develop into an outspoken leader in the locker room. He has always preferred to skip talking to the media and to be the last player off the ice most days at practice.
“I try to lead by example on the ice,” said Hejduk, who turns 32 next month. “We’ve got guys like Lappy (Ian Laperriere) and Bruno (Andrew Brunette). I just try to do my job on the ice.”
With Sakic sidelined, Hejduk is the Avalanche’s most tenured player. To Hejduk, this makes him shake his head in disbelief, just like his current goal-scoring stats.
“Time is flying. It goes quick,” he said. “It’s like the whole career, it goes quick. All of a sudden, it feels like it’s going to be over, and you don’t know what happened. It’s a little scary.”
During his entire career he has had Sakic or Peter Forsberg to look to as a linemate. Hejduk appears to be a player who needs a sidekick or two to fully excel. He’s been trying to form a lasting bond with Paul Stastny, with limited success, but that line took a big hit with the recent injury to left wing Smyth.
Hejduk is not a player who can carry a team on his back. At his best, he’s a player who can carry one side.
Sakic, who is out until about March following hernia surgery, calls Hejduk one of the best teammates he has had.
“He never takes a shift off. He’s got great skill, and he’s smart,” Sakic said. “Right now, I know the puck’s not going in for him, like it isn’t for a lot of our team. But he’s capable of getting on a real tear at any time. He’s been a fun guy for me to play with because he is always anticipating what the next best move will be.”
Former Avs player Theo Fleury agreed. “Milan Hejduk was one of the smarter players I ever got to play with. I didn’t play with him long, but he was great. It was only his rookie year, but I could tell right away he was going to be a player.”
Hejduk, who has twin sons, said he is able to put his on-ice frustrations aside once he gets home.
“Fatherhood definitely changes your outlook on life, and what’s important,” he said.
But he clearly is not happy as he boards the bus waiting at the Verizon Center. He is a goal scorer, and when he’s not scoring goals, he’s not doing his job.
“But Patrick Roy used to tell me when I was a rookie, ‘Just relax. You’re not going to lose your skill that got you here overnight,’ ” Hejduk said.
“I guess I just try to keep that in mind when things are like they are now. But it’s not easy.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
$4 million Milan Hejduk’s salary with the Avalanche this season.
32 The age he will be Feb. 14.
87 The number he was selected in the 1994 NHL draft by the Quebec Nordiques.
50 The number of goals he scored in 2002-03, leading all NHL players.
1998 The season Hejduk made his NHL debut and won an Olympic gold medal with the Czech Republic.
