Van Riemsdyk seems to be reaching primo level

SOMETIMES, it looks like an old replay. A big body with long, raptor-like arms picks up a loose puck in the neutral zone and swoops down one side of the ice as opposing defensemen scramble to protect their net as prey defends its eggs.

Sound familiar? Look familiar?

"He's turned into a very fun player to watch," Keith Primeau said yesterday.

He, of course, is James van Riemsdyk, the Flyers' 6-3 left winger who, after two seasons of occasional flashes, tortured and trashed Buffalo's defensive strategy in the first-round series by, in the word of Keith Jones, "bulling" his way through the neutral zone and into the opponent's zone the way Primeau once did. Van Riemsdyk scored four goals in the seven-game series and created havoc and uncertainty nearly every time he jumped over the boards, using his speed and reach to create countless scoring opportunities.

"It's not stickhandling in a phone booth coming out of a corner," Primeau said. "It's get the puck and get it to the net and make somebody stop you. He's really figured that part of his game out. He's so explosive. He really does have, for a big man, another gear."

"There is no question that James has taken the beginning of the playoffs to a different level than the regular season," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said the other day. "It's similar to what Claude did last year."

Maybe by the numbers, but JVR's game has about as much in common with his good friend Claude Giroux as it does with that of Chicago's Patrick Kane, the player drafted just ahead of him and first overall in the 2007 NHL entry draft.

No, JVR's avatar is available only through your VCR.

"He's a big man who utilizes his size and speed," Primeau said. "Doesn't come out of who he is as a player. I tried to do the same thing. I wasn't going to finesse my way up the ice. I tried to use my size and speed to bring pucks to the net. So there's definite similarities there."

Cue Primeau's 2004 playoff performance, in which he scored nine goals and assisted on seven others, a stretch hockey legend Phil Esposito described later as more dominating than "Orr, Howe, Gretzky or anyone."

Cue the fifth-overtime goal in 2000.

"I was on vacation watching that game," van Riemsdyk said. "I remember that. It was pretty cool. And he was unbelievable."

Van Riemsdyk was told he has looked like that at times this postseason.

"Wow. That's a pretty big compliment," he said.

The odd thing is that Primeau felt the same way when I said the kid reminded me of 2004.

"Really? He just looks so graceful," Primeau said. "He has such a powerful stride. And he's so fast when he gets the puck."

So was Primeau, of course. He was 2 inches taller, too, just for the record, and if expectations didn't crush him at the beginning of his career - he was promoted to the NHL at 19 - he might have found his groove sooner.

"I didn't become a hockey player, really, until I was 22," he said.

Primeau was 28 in 2000 and with his third organization. He was 32 in the 2004 postseason. JVR, who will turn 22 on Wednesday, skates more straight up than Primeau, which might allow him to avoid the kind of concussions that shortened the former captain's career.

There are other differences. By the time he reached the Flyers, Primeau was a leader, enjoyed being "the man." Initially shy, van Riemsdyk has been more outgoing this season. And of course, he played center, not wing, although as Jones pointed out, "he would gravitate to the wing when he was carrying the puck.

"And carrying the puck through the neutral zone and through the blue line nowadays is even more impressive the way the NHL is set up nowadays," Jones said. "It's a chip-in game, especially in the playoffs. JVR's just bulling his way through that neutral zone."

Here's another difference: "The stinky glove," Jones said. Primeau had a healthy nasty streak out there, so healthy he once fought his brother Wayne during an NHL game. Van Riemsdyk showed some feistiness in the first round, will push back when pushed, "but I don't know if he'll ever have Primeau's nastiness," Jones said.

"He's similar to John LeClair in that he'd battle you, knock you on your ass, but he won't give you the stinky glove in the face. Primeau would. And he liked to."

There's one last difference, and it's huge: We saw the best version of Primeau in those two campaigns.

"You're getting a glimpse of what you're going to get" with van Riemsdyk, Jones said.

"What's coming through is that JVR is taking ownership of his game - 'I can do this, and I will do this,' " he said. "He's not deferring anymore. He's showing confidence in his game. Which is hard at 21 or 22. Especially when you're shy by nature, which I think he is. But he's moving into wanting to be That Guy.

"Think about it, what he's shown. He's not even 22. Think about if there's another level, you get that for the next 15 years maybe. Wow."

Yeah. Wow. *

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