Hejduk Honored To Be Among The Greats

It seems only fitting that Milan Hejduk's No. 23 will hang from the rafters of Pepsi Center.
The former Colorado Avalanche right wing scored the first goal in the first game of the then-new building on Oct. 13, 1999, won a Stanley Cup on the home ice in 2001 and is still the arena's all-time leader in goals (188) and points (387) after 466 contests.

Hejduk will be center stage once again at the Avs' home off Chopper Circle on Jan. 6 when he becomes the sixth player to have his sweater retired in Avalanche history. His No. 23 will join the other digits that have already been raised and were previously worn by Joe Sakic (19), Peter Forsberg (21), Patrick Roy (33), Adam Foote (52) and Ray Bourque (77).
"It is a huge honor," says Hejduk. "It is something that I've never dreamt of, to be a part of this and be part of the jerseys hanging from the rafters. It's a really great thing."
Hejduk's last NHL contest was April 27, 2013, and there has been talk over the last four years of adding his No. 23 to the group of Colorado greats. This past summer, the organization announced that Hejduk's number would join those other Avs legends.
"It's long overdue for what Milan has done for this organization, what he has done for the community," says Avalanche executive vice president/general manager Joe Sakic. "He's an ambassador for the Avalanche, and you just look at his stats. He played 14 years here, no one has played more games for the [Avalanche]. He's won a Stanley Cup. He's won a Rocket Richard Trophy. The one big thing with him is his consistency, 11-straight years of 20-plus goals."

Hejduk was a key member of the Avalanche teams that went to four-straight Western Conference Finals (1999-2002) and became a star in the league. He won the franchise's first-ever Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy in 2002-03 after leading the league in goals with 50 and recorded 343 total markers in that 11-season, 20-plus-goal stretch. Only Jarome Iginla (422), Marian Hossa (373) and Ilya Kovalchuk (369) found the back of the net more during that time period.
In the franchise annals, Hejduk finished his career ranked fourth with 375 goals and 805 points and fifth in assists with 430. Only Sakic tallied more goals (391) than Hejduk after the organization relocated to Denver from Quebec in 1995.
"Anyone I've ever played with, he had the best hands. He could stickhandle anywhere," says Sakic, who often played on the same line as Hejduk. "You talk to goalies, his shot, a very deceptive shot. He knew where he was going and the goalies never did. He scored a lot of big goals for us."
When the game was on the line in overtime, Hejduk was one of the players the Avalanche wanted on the ice. He is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season OT goals with nine, and one in specific always seems to standout.
It was March 26, 2000 in Dallas. After scoring the winning tally in the extra period, he raced toward center ice and dived on his stomach while doing an arm motion that resembled a swimming stroke.

For a player that remained humble and didn't show a lot of emotion on and off the ice, it was a side of Hejduk that fans and his teammates rarely saw.
"I still remember the only time you saw emotion out of him was the one game in Dallas," Sakic said. "He scored the overtime goal, and for whatever reason, who knows why, he went to the middle of the ice and dove on the ice and started swimming. I don't know where that came from, but it was the one and only. He's scored some overtime goals in the playoffs, and it was no big deal, but for whatever reason that one game got to him."
Drafted in 1994 by the Quebec Nordiques at 87th overall in the fourth round, the Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, native made the jump to North America for the 1998-99 campaign after playing five seasons professionally in his home country and winning an Olympic gold medal months earlier at the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

In his first training camp, Hejduk didn't get to pick his number. It was given to him, but he ended up sticking with it.
He also wasn't expecting to make the Avs' opening-night roster that season, but he did and stayed with the franchise for his entire career. He appeared in 1,020 regular season and 112 playoff contests in all.
"I was expecting to just go to the minors and work my way up," Hejduk recalls. "At that time, it was a great team. We basically had a championship team here. It happened that I made the team and then I was part of it. Absolutely, didn't expect it at all."
Of the 315 players to appear in at least 1,000 NHL games, Hejduk is part of an even more select group. He is one of 29 to reach the millennial mark while spending their entire career with one organization.

Hejduk didn't really see any reason to go anywhere else. The Avalanche treated him well, his family enjoyed Colorado and the fan support was incredible.
"It's special. Not that many guys did it," says Hejduk of spending his career in Denver. "I was really happy here. People in Colorado and [the Avs] have been really great to me and my family. We liked it here. When I ended my career, we were not the top team anymore, like it was early in my career, but still, I really liked it here. There are great people in the organization. Everything was great, so why leave?"

When Hejduk retakes the ice for his jersey retirement prior to the Avalanche's game against the Minnesota Wild, he'll take center stage once again in an arena he knows so well.
Sakic remembers a comfort level during his number retirement in 2009 and expects the same for Hejduk.
"You're going to be nervous, for sure," Sakic says. "There are going to be a lot of people that you'll want to thank, but I know from experience that once you get on the ice, it's almost like when you're playing hockey. You're comfortable on the ice, standing there, even if it's just talking."

Sakic played with Hejduk during the Czech's first 10 seasons with the Avs and says he always enjoyed their time together on a line and appreciated the right wing's vision and hockey sense.
"He was very easy to read off of. I think you could ask anyone who has ever played with him on a line, they would probably say the same thing. He was a guy that you wanted to play with," Sakic said. "He always made the right decisions. What was really underrated with him was his defensive play. He was a good defensive player, especially on the wall. Not the biggest guy in the world, but he always seemed to get the puck off the wall. It didn't seem to matter if the D was pinching on him, he always made a great play with it. Just a very patient guy and one of the easiest guys you'll ever play with."
When Sakic retired in 2009, Hejduk was among the players that succeeded him as captain. Having been an alternate captain for much of his time in Colorado, he wore the 'C' during the 2011-12 campaign before helping guide current Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog during his first season at the helm the following year.

"The first year I came in, I sat beside him in the dressing room, and he was kind of that peak of professionalism and example of being a pro, really," Landeskog says of playing with Hejduk as an 18-year-old. "I was busy enough trying to get my feet under myself and trying to stand up on my own in the NHL, but Hedgie was always the same beside me. He was always even-keel and positive and always worried about the team."
A member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, a Stanley Cup champion, an NHL All-Star and Olympic gold medalist, what Hejduk might be the most proud of is having his number retired by the team he played for at the highest level of the sport.
"This is probably the biggest individual recognition of my career, for sure," Hejduk said. "Because it's not just one year or one season, it's kind of your whole career. My jersey is going to be hanging there with all the greats here. It's a great, special feeling. It's something that will stay with me forever."
Hejduk's number belongs with those former Avs that already have theirs draped from the Pepsi Center ceiling. There isn't really any player that was quite like No. 23 on the ice for Colorado, and there never will be again.

A version of this story appeared in the 2017-18 second edition of AVALANCHE, the official game magazine of the Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club. For more feature stories, purchase a copy of the magazine during Avs home games at Pepsi Center. All proceeds from game-magazine sales support youth hockey associations in Colorado.