Former Habs pick go-to guy for France

[Grizzly]

Interesting points in article are the two year organized hockey in a country requirement for a player to play internationally for this country and the salary figures for the North American minor leagues compared with the European leagues.

Former Habs pick go-to guy for France

By PIERRE LeBRUN -- Canadian Press

PRAGUE -- A former Canadian junior hockey star will line up across from Canada at the world hockey championship Tuesday.

Sebastien Bordeleau, a former Montreal Canadiens draft pick and Hull Olympiques scoring sensation a decade ago, is following in his father's footsteps and playing for France.

Former NHLer Paulin Bordeleau played seven pro seasons in the French league in the 1980s and qualified to play for their national team.

Sebastien Bordeleau spent part of his childhood in the French Alps and was approached by France to play in this year's world championship.

Since Bordeleau never played internationally with his native Canada, he's allowed to play for France.

It's an ironic twist since Bordeleau was tremendously disappointed not to have been even invited to Canada's world junior camp in December 1994.

"I went to the summer evaluation camp but I never got invited to the camp in December," Bordeleau recalled.

And that was despite scoring 128 points (52 goals, 76 assists) in 68 games and winning the the Quebec league's offensive player of the year award that season.

"I know, what can I say? It wasn't my decision," shrugged Bordeleau, whose Hull junior teammate Jose Theodore backstopped Canada to gold at the next world junior tournament in 1996.

But nine years later, that world junior snub allows Bordeleau to lace them up with France.

"That's why France approached me. My dad played for France when we lived there," the five-foot-10, 178-pound centre said.

It was actually a little more complicated than that. Somewhere in the International Ice Hockey Federation fine print, it says a player wanting to play for his adopted country must prove he played at least two years of organized hockey with that country.

The French hockey federation was able to dig up papers that proved Bordeleau played atom and peewee hockey there in the early 1980s.

So he said yes when France called.

"I said, 'hey, this is the world championships, it's a great experience, I got to go,"' Bordeleau said.

Bordeleau, a third-round pick of the Canadiens in 1993, had 98 points in 251 NHL games with Montreal, Nashville, Phoenix and Minnesota from 1996 to 2002, but could never stick with one team.

A serious neck injury in 2000 threatened his career but he says he's not at risk today.

"I came back 100 per cent from that," said the 29-year-old. "If there was still a little thing wrong I wouldn't be playing. Everything is fine with that."

His NHL career stalled during the 2001-02 season when he played only six games with the Coyotes and spent the rest of the season with their AHL affiliate in Springfield.

"When I was in Springfield, I think I hit rock bottom," he said. "I was real depressed. And then Phoenix didn't offer me a qualifying offer so I didn't know what to do. And then Bern (Swiss league) gave me a great offer that I couldn't turn down.

"I didn't know anything about the hockey there but money-wise it was a great contract."

It's believed he earns about $200,000 US a season with his house and car also paid for by the club. The team also helped find his wife Chantal, a doctor, a job at a Lausanne hospital.

His only way back to the NHL likely would be to sign a two-way contract with a club, and he's not interested in that at all.

"Yeah, that's the thing," he said. "My last year I was making $30,000 in the minors and that was pretty hard. I was paying to play over there. For family reasons, it's better right now that I'm playing in Switzerland.

"If I was still single I would probably be still fighting for an NHL job."

He had 48 points (22-26) in 41 games and led Bern to the Swiss league championship in 2002-03, playing alongside the likes of former NHLers Christian Dube, Yves Sarault and Sylvain Lefebvre.

Bordeleau followed that up with 49 points (18-31) in 37 games this season and appears to be in the Swiss league to stay.

But he admits he paid attention when the Predators made the playoffs for the first time in their short history this season. He spent three seasons there and had his best NHL year there with 16 goals and 24 assists in 72 games.

"I was really happy for them, really happy for Tomas Vokoun, Scotty Walker and all the guys that were there from the beginning," he said. "It's good for hockey in Nashville."

Bordeleau and Los Angeles Kings goalie Cristobal Huet stand out on a French club in way over its head at these championships. They gained promotion to this tournament last year after a four-year absence.

"It's hard. Hockey in France isn't very popular," Bordeleau said. "The federation in France is not doing really good so the players can't really develop themselves. We don't have a lot of depth, so it's a struggle. These guys don't play for money, because there is no money to be made in French hockey.

"The most you can make in France is about 40,000 euros."

How bad is pro hockey in France?

"I think a good junior team in Canada would beat some of the teams in France. It's pretty bad," Bordeleau said.

France has been outscored 12-0 in its first two games, a pair of 6-0 losses to Austria and Switzerland. Bordeleau winced when asked what would be a good score Tuesday against Canada (TSN, 6:15 a.m. EDT).

"Keeping it under five (goals)," he said.