Flyers to honor Desjardins tonight

ERIC DESJARDINS never liked to be the focal point of a conversation. He never wanted it to be about him.

Desjardins is, after all, the only one of the 19 captains in the 48-year history of the Flyers to voluntarily remove the "C" from his jersey.

Buried beneath his humble and even shy French-Canadian shell, there was a burning competitive edge that raged on quietly. Like, that one time Desjardins was fired up about a selfish comment goaltender Roman Cechmanek made in a newspaper one day during the 2000-01 season, when he was still captain.

"Eric was always one of the guys, but he was never a 'rah-rah' type of guy. That wasn't his style," longtime defense partner Chris Therien said. "If you looked up the definition of a 'professional athlete' in the dictionary, his picture should be there. He was always prepared, a true 'team' guy, took the game seriously, worked tremendously hard.

"But if he saw something or someone went against the team, he spoke up. This one day in practice, I can't remember what was said, but he had every player line up and curl around the circle and shoot pucks at Cechmanek's head."

Cechmanek, nicknamed the "bipolar goaler" by teammates, strangely liked to make saves with his helmet, though.

"Not on this day," Therien said. "Not when there's 20 of them whizzing between your ears. We just annihilated him. I'll never forget Eric orchestrated that. It was different, because 90 percent of the time, he was a laid-back guy, a very chill guy. He just went about his business."

Desjardins, now 45, will be inducted into the Flyers' Hall of Fame before tonight's game against Buffalo. He will be remembered as one of the best, if not most underrated, defensemen in franchise history.

Teammates Shjon Podein, John LeClair, Eric Lindros, Keith Primeau and Therien will be on hand for the ceremony, which begins at 7 o'clock. The puck will drop on the Flyers-Sabres contest at 8.

"It's a great honor, there's no doubt about it," Desjardins said yesterday. "I was a little bit surprised when I got the call. For me, it's a nice closure of my career. It means that I did pretty good for the time I was in Philly. It's going to be a great night, an emotional night, I'm sure."

With Desjardins, the Flyers skated in one Stanley Cup final, and advanced within one or two games of three other final appearances (1995, 2000 and 2004). He won seven Barry Ashbee Trophies as the Flyers' top defenseman - more than Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Howe (three) and Kimmo Timonen (five).

Desjardins finished with 396 points (303 assists) in 738 games with the Flyers. He is third all-time in games played among defensemen and second in points. He was as steady defensively as he was productive offensively, finishing with more than 40 points in six seasons.

Desjardins finished in the top 10 in Norris Trophy voting five times in his career, overshadowed by names such as Ray Bourque, Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Brian Leetch, Chris Chelios and Rob Blake.

He arrived in Philadelphia on Feb. 9, 1995, with John LeClair and Gilbert Dionne in a trade from Montreal in exchange for Mark Recchi and a third-round pick. Desjardins won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993 and became the first defenseman ever to score a hat trick in a Stanley Cup finals game.

The Flyers were hoping to get one star out of that trade and ended up with two.

"I was just shocked to leave Montreal, because I didn't expect it," Desjardins said. "A French-Canadian playing in Montreal, it's probably the best thing an athlete can ask for. After the trade, when I got to Philly, everything took off. It didn't take long for me to really put Montreal behind, move on, and just enjoy my time in Philly. Personally, I had more responsibilities on the team, and, after that, we had success as a team."

Desjardins retired on Aug. 10, 2006, at age 37, slowed by injuries and an untimely NHL lockout that cost him an entire season. He worked briefly for the Flyers as a player development coach, but wasn't long for life in the front office.

Now, Desjardins lives in Blainville, Quebec, a Montreal suburb, and manages the investments he made with the $30 million he earned in the NHL. He isn't involved in hockey, but doesn't seem to miss it too much.

"I don't have a day-to-day job, but I have a few businesses back home in Quebec," Desjardins said. "For now, it is tough for me to get involved [in hockey] like that because of all the travel and all the time away from home. Maybe because my kids are getting older, I'll have more time and I'll look for something to do. I have a few real estate [properties], opened up [three] Scandinavian spas, a few things like that to keep me just busy enough to make sure I don't go crazy."

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