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Thursday, 21 July 2011 12:01

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

(Note: This is an updated version of something we posted last summer.)

With the recent retirements of Mark Recchi and Patrick Lalime (above), a sobering reality begins to set in.

There aren't very many players left in the NHL who actually played with Mario Lemieux.

The return of Jaromir Jagr from the KHL offsets those losses somewhat, but there are only 20 players (including one free agent) who are still in the NHL who can claim they skated in a game with Lemieux on their team. That's not even a full NHL roster.

The players and their current teams:

• Nolan Baumgartner, D, Canucks
• Matt Bradley, RW, Panthers
• Erik Christensen, C, Rangers
• Sidney Crosby, C, Penguins
• Andrew Ference, D, Bruins
• Marc-Andre Fleury, G, Penguins
• Sergei Gonchar, D, Senators
• Johan Hedberg, G, Devils
• Jaromir Jagr, RW, Flyers
• Tom Kostopoulos, RW, Flames
• Alex Kovalev, RW, Free Agent
• Ryan Malone, LW, Lightning
• Michel Ouellet, RW, Lightning
• Brooks Orpik, D, Penguins
• Toby Petersen, C, Stars
• Michal Rozisval, D, Coyotes
• Mikael Samuelsson, RW, Canucks
• Rob Scuderi, D, Kings
• Maxime Talbot, C, Flyers
• Ryan Whitney, D, Oilers

Comments (12)

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written by Disgruntled Goat, July 21, 2011 - 12:43 PM

Colby Armstrong? He played 47 games in 05-06, any with 66?

Michel Ouellet? He just signed with Tampa.

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written by D Sanchez, July 21, 2011 - 01:34 PM

About half of that list should not be allowed to say they had the privilege of skating with Lemieux. Shame he had to spend the last few years of his career skating with such sh**ty players.

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written by snickers99, July 21, 2011 - 01:38 PM

Maxime Talbot, C, Flyers

Man, that looks weird.

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written by s_rorabaugh, July 21, 2011 - 01:56 PM

DG, +1 for the heads up on Ouellet.

Armstrong joined the Penguins NHL roster well after Lemieux retired.

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written by Disgruntled Goat, July 21, 2011 - 03:19 PM

Shame he had to spend the last few years of his career skating with such sh**ty players.

Actually, the guys on this list are the good ones who have managed to scratch out at least a 5 year NHL career. Look at the rest of the guys on the 05-06 roster. Or worse, the 03-04 roster. Yeesh.

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written by Bones, July 21, 2011 - 03:24 PM

That's what I was thinking Goat. Ramzi Abid, Rico Fata, Konstantin Koltsov were the three that came to mind. Although I think 03-04 was the season that Mario only lasted about 8 or 9 games before the wonky hip took him out.

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written by Disgruntled Goat, July 21, 2011 - 04:02 PM

**s all over now Bones, try not to think about it.

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written by Bones, July 21, 2011 - 04:24 PM

Gotta remember the dark times, helps me appreciate what we have now.

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written by GenoSid, July 21, 2011 - 06:20 PM

Guillame Lefebvre and Eric Meloche.

Did he ever have worse wingers than those two?

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written by D Sanchez, July 21, 2011 - 08:55 PM

Goat - Believe me, I'm well aware of the crapfest that was the Pens roster between 2002 and 2006. Alex Daigle, Randy Robitaille, Stephane Richer, Abid, etc etc etc. Makes watching Crosby and gang that much more enjoyable.

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written by Bones, July 21, 2011 - 10:10 PM

Yep, there were some really lean years in there. And what little marquee talent the Pens had was hurt all the time. There was a stretch where Straka would have a catastrophic injury, return, and get hurt right away again. And Mario was never the same after he returned from the 2002 Olympics, they just couldn't get his hip to work right again.

A few highlights from that era that I can think of:

Caron's sick save: http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=2en2oKYx9SY

Morozov popping his jersey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v388s5u8aA

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written by bastage42, July 23, 2011 - 12:02 PM

Those are great moments, Bones ... I entirely forgot about the Caron save especially. I love that FSN Bad Guys had even changed the score to display 6-5 and then had to correct it, but what a freakin' save.

Gotta find ways to enjoy the down times -- every team has them, everybody has them -- so you can appreciate the better ones Especially any times that victimize the Flyers!

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