Milan Hejduk swears he has owned an iPhone for "at least a year," but according to linemate Gabriel Landeskog, a 19-year-old rookie, the 35-year-old Avalanche captain showed his age when the two met in training camp.
"All the guys have these Blackberrys and iPhones, and Hejdy pulls out this big rock from his pocket," Landeskog said. "I don't even know what brand it was, but it was pretty funny."
Hejduk is willing to have some fun with his young teammates.
"Actually, I had to wear it on my back — like a backpack," Hejduk said, referring to old military communication devices. "It was pretty heavy."
It was all laughter after practice Thursday when the age gap between Hejduk and his linemates was discussed. Ryan O'Reilly, who centers what has been Colorado's best overall line, is 20.
"Landy and I are probably closer to his boys' age," O'Reilly said.
Hejduk's twin sons, Marek and David, are 7.
Three years before they were born, Hejduk won a Stanley Cup with the Avs in 2001. O'Reilly was 10 and Landeskog 8.
"That's pretty crazy," O'Reilly said.
Said Hejduk: "It's unbelievable when you mention that. Pretty impressive too. When you're on the ice, they're regular players. You don't look at age. But when you look at the roster and see the ages, you're like, 'Oh, my God, this is unbelievable.' "
Hejduk, who will be 36 in February, changed into sweatpants and skated with his sons before taking them to lunch.
Where did O'Reilly and Landeskog go?
"They probably go play PlayStation or something together," Hejduk said.
That's not a knock on two guys who aren't old enough to buy a beer.
"When you think like that, it's pretty crazy," Landeskog said of the age gap. "It puts it in perspective how long Hej- dy's played and how good he's been for so long. We were talking the other day how it feels to play against (Alex) Ovechkin and those guys, but being on the same line and sitting beside Hejdy in the locker room is just as cool. It's pretty special."
The Avs are the NHL's youngest team, and unofficially they have the league's youngest power-play unit. It features 20-year-olds Matt Duchene and Stefan Elliott at the points, and O'Reilly, Landeskog and Hejduk down low. Take away old man Hejduk and the average age of the power play is 19.75.
"They're definitely way younger," Hejduk said, looking embarrassed.
Avs coach Joe Sacco has had O'Reilly and Landeskog together for most of the season. He put Hejduk with them about a month ago.
O'Reilly is Canadian, Landeskog is Swedish and Hejduk is from the Czech Republic.
"That line is a good combination of things," Sacco said. "You have an experienced player like Milan, who's been in different situations and a guy who can put the puck in the back of the net.
"You've got a young winger on the (left) side, barely 19 years old, who plays a little more of a north-south game, in the hard areas and does a lot of the work as far as getting pucks out of the corners.
"And then you've got Ryan, who is just a real solid two-way player for us. He plays 200 feet of the ice. He can make plays offensively and is very reliable defensively. The fit, the chemistry of that line, is just real good, and they play against the (opponent's) top line just about every game, and I think that sometimes goes unnoticed."
O'Reilly's line was matched against Joe Thornton and the Sharks last week; Ovechkin and the Capitals on Saturday; Jaromir Jagr and the Flyers on Monday; and David Backes and the Blues on Wednesday.
"It's quite intriguing and amazing," Sacco said of the diversity and effectiveness of the O'Reilly line. "Milan just keeps going along."
And going and going ...
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by mapletreemarty
