Simon Gagne Fansite

by Sam Donnellon, Philadelphia Daily News -- April 25, 2000

It wasn't that long ago that Eric Desjardins was a Flyers heartthrob. It wasn't that long ago that he was the young, handsome, French-Canadian face with more options than a luxury SUV.

And then it happened. On road trips this season, "Rico" was paired with the youngest Flyer, a fuzz-faced cherub named Simon Gagne, not yet 20 then, not yet comfortable with the English language.

Rico and Simon went to buy shoes. Someone recognized Rico. Rico got old in a hurry.

"The guy asks Simon, 'Hey, is that Eric Desjardins?' " the Flyers' captain recalled after yesterday's practice. "Simon says, 'Yeah.' "

"And then he says, 'And you. . .You are his son?' "

Desjardins flashed the smile that has made him one of the more swooned-over Flyers in recent decades. Even with the Canadian exchange rate factored in, the numbers don't add up. Desjardins is 30, a decade older than the recently turned-20 Gagne. And Desjardins' only son is still a toddler, not a rookie NHL player who has played like a veteran all-star in this playoff season.

"Do I look that old, or does he look that young?" Desjardins said of Gagne. "I told my wife, 'I now have another son.' "

There is more than a little truth to that. Besides road roommate, Desjardins has been Gagne's patriarch this season, answering questions, handing out advice when asked, offering perspective on what would seem to be an overwhelming amount of responsibility for a player who is younger than some of his teammates' replacement teeth.

"When the season started," Gagne said, "I felt like a little kid. Like, what am I doing here?"

This is what he is doing: Simon Gagne plays on the power play, plays in shorthanded situations, and by now is almost expected to score big goals or at least set them up.

He scored 20 goals this season and had 28 assists, and he got better each month without ever experiencing any puppylike confusion.

In the postseason, he has been everywhere, eclipsed only by the play of goalie Brian Boucher and his hockey dad, Desjardins. So what advice did the old man give on the cusp of the playoffs?

"I gave it in French," Desjardins said. "I just said to him that it's the same game. There's just more coverage. Everything is more pressure. Every little thing is a big thing at the end of the season. That's what I tried to tell him. You did the job the whole year, it's no different in the playoffs."

This is a lesson that needed to be given once.

Gagne scored the game-winning goal in the Flyers' 3-2 victory in Game 1 of the Buffalo series. More important than his five points in the five-game series was the timing of each. In the 5-2 clincher, for example, he beat out a defenseman to set up the third goal and deked out Dominik Hasek for the fourth goal after the Sabres had pulled to within one again.

These goals are the knockout punch missing in recent Flyers playoff failures.

The 22nd pick overall in the 1998 amateur draft, Gagne may already be the second most crucial entity in the Flyers' playoff run, right behind the play of the 23-year-old Boucher. With Eric Lindros out and Rod Brind'Amour in Carolina, two of the team's more relied-upon offensive performers of the decade are not in the mix. Keith Primeau and Mark Recchi have replaced them, but they are saddled somewhat by expectations and reputations, drawing the attention of the opposition's best players.

Gagne is the "X" factor, or the Generation X factor. As his season rolled on and his points rolled up, he has drawn more scrutiny. But throw in John LeClair and Rick Tocchet and now, even Daymond Langkow, and it's obvious: You can't stop them all.

For all his speed, for all his stick skills and tenacity and vision, calm may be Gagne's greatest ally. Desjardins shakes his head as he is reminded again of his pass to Gagne in the slot during Game 5 against Buffalo, and how the winger cut across the slot to pop the puck past Hasek. On a penalty shot two games before, Desjardins, wary of choppy ice and Hasek's big-game reputation, fired into the goalie's pads.

Where did this punk come off showing more poise?

"That's my personality," Gagne said. "People think that when I was young everything was easy. But I had some, not problems, but. . ."

Let's say, issues. As thin as he is now, Gagne was much thinner when his Bantam coach cut him at age 13. Two weeks later, parched for goals, the coach took him back. Gagne led that team in goals and points.

"After the season, the coach said [he was] sorry about what he did," Gagne said. "Sometimes I still see him and we say hello. He was a good coach. No big thing."

The scene was played out the following season, only this time it took the Midget coach two months to reconsider. The reservation about Gagne, besides those bones sticking through his skin, was that he didn't play much of a physical game and would be rattled like wind chimes when he started getting banged by the big boys.

It was similar to the reservations the Flyers had entering training camp. Gagne would be a pro someday, probably a good one, but not until he ate a little more steak and pasta, took a few more hits, refined his game. He was headed back to Juniors when camp began, and he was already targeted to play in the World Junior Championships for Team Canada.

You know what happened. He made the Flyers, stuck and played so well in December - he was rookie of the month - that he never had to go to the World Juniors, either. But his name kept coming up in other places. Gagne was a constant in trade rumors.

"This is my first season where everything went well and they kept me with the team," he said. "I was very surprised [to stay all season]. . .But everything I read about and heard from [general manager] Bobby Clarke said that he would keep me with the team and I would be here for 10 years. "I trust him. I would like to stay here. I hope. . ."

His voice trails off. He likes it here, has made it his home. He is living with Karine Drolet, his girlfriend of four years, a woman he has known since she was a girl. She is his rock, his calm, and perhaps as important, his cook. He would like to marry someday, he said. He would like to have a family of his own. This summer, he would like Karine to learn more English, so she won't feel so all alone when he's shopping for shoes in Ottawa.

But that's not now. Now is all about hockey.

"He's really got nothing else," Desjardins said. "That's the best thing to see. When a guy takes his job seriously and is professional at an early age like that, you know he's going to be all right. He's going to have a long career."