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Final Grade: Milan Hejduk

By David Driscoll-Carignan Updated
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This report card is a joint effort by Beachie, Sandie, Paul, SlamDunktheFunk and DDC. Stats courtesy of hockey-reference.com and NHL.com

GP G A P +/- PIM PPG SHG GWG GTG SOG PCT
2010 - Milan Hejduk 71 22 34 56 -23 18 10 0 2 170


 

23_hejduk_medium

Final Grade

B_medium

 

 

Final Grade: B

Midseason Grade: A

Last Year: A

Position: RW (69gp), LW (2gp)

43 GP 2nd line, 28 GP 1st line

Vitals: 6'0 / 190 / Age 35 / Shoots R

Drafted by Quebec, 4th round, (87th) of the 1994 draft

Joined Avalanche: 1998 - 1999

MHH Nicknames: Duke

Linemates:

LW:

  • Jones 20gp 7g 13a 20pt -9
  • Porter 15gp 3g 4a 7pt -4
  • Yip 9gp 3g 7a 10pt -3
  • Fleischmann 8gp 1g 2a 3pt -2
  • Olver 4gp 1g 1a 2pt -4
  • Winnik 3gp 3g 2a 5pt +1
  • Duchene 2gp 0g 4a 4pt +3
  • Forsberg 2gp 0g 0a 0pt -3
  • Stewart 2gp 0g 0a 0pt -1
  • Stoa 2gp 2g 0a 2pt +1
  • Galiardi 1gp 2g 0a 2pt +2
  • McClement 1gp 0g 1a 1pt -3

C:

  • Duchene 50gp 13g 24a 37pt -20
  • Stastny 17gp 8g 10a 18pt Even
  • O'Reilly 3gp 1g 0a 1pt -1
  • Olver 1gp 0g 0a 0pt -2

Avs with Hejduk in the lineup: 24-39-8 (.394 pt%) 2.73 GF 3.49 GA

Ice Time:

  • TTOI 17:55 (4th)
  • EV 14:48 (5th)
  • PK 0:04 (13th)
  • PP 3:02 (2nd)

Career Highlights: With his 22 goals last year, Hejduk has scored 20 or more goals in all but one season during his NHL career. He notched his 400th assist and moved ahead of Forsberg into 4th all-time on the franchise scoring list (757 points). He also recorded a team-low and career-low +/- of -23, only the 2nd minus season of his career.

Report: In a lot of ways, the Duke was the Duke last season. He continued to put up goals, often making scoring look so easy that you'd think anyone - even Tyler Arnason - could do it. He still has some of the best hands in the NHL with the ability to stickhandle his way around a defender in a magical way. But last year, one of his former strengths became a weakness. It's hard to explain why it happened, but his defensive play dropped off quite a bit last season. One only needs to look at his abysmal plus/minus to see that. Turnovers, missed assignments, miscues, and errant passes all led to goals against and did so at too high of a rate. Those defensive lapses generated a lot of talk that Hejduk would hang 'em up at the end of the season. He also had yet another year with injuries, adding fuel to the retirement talk. But the Duke's passion for the game is as strong as ever, and his offensive output is still a needed and valuable asset to the team.

Fun Fact: Hejduk's mother was a pro tennis player. As a result, he spends much of the off-season with a racket in hand and uses tennis balls to practice his shot accuracy.

The Duke Drinking Game: Drink when Hejduk is whistled for being offsides  Drunk potential: Far too high

What We Said Last Year: The Duke is nearly indispensible to this team, being the only veteran top six forward they have currently. He can still be counted on for goal production and is a tenacious defender.

 2010 Cap Hit: $3,000,000

2011 Status: Hejduk recently re-signed for 1 more year at $3,000,000

Outlook for Next Season: Still going... /Energizer Bunny. Hejduk is almost a perfect 2nd line winger for the Avs. He's good for 20 goals, put up very good numbers with a bunch of different players (even Yip!) and he can be good defensively...when he puts his mind to it. Now the Avs just need to get a #1 guy to make a formidable 1-2 punch on the right to go with Stastny and Duchene up the middle.

Next Up: Chris Stewart (nice bit of ironic foreshadowing in that last sentence, eh?)