Guy Lesieur Goes to Riga - Never a Dragon!

[KC15 340]

Guy Lesieur Bio

 

Guy Lesieur, right winger from just outside Paris, France, burst on to the VHL scene in S68 being drafted by the Mexico City Kings of the VHLM. He spent a partial season there before being traded to the Las Vegas Aces as they made a playoff run. Those playoff hopes were dashed short of the Cup, but the young phenom put up some impressive numbers for his rookie season: 31 G, 29 A, +5, and 3 GWG.

 

Draft Hopes Rise

 

As VHL draft loomed on the horizon, Guy wanted nothing more than to be drafted by the recent expansion team, the D.C. Dragons. He liked the build of the young team and it’s chances for future success under the brilliant GM duo of @Enorama and @McWolf He also appreciated the thought of coming up immediately from the VHLM to make an immediate impact on a young team where his greenness would not be too out of place.

 

Draft Hopes Dashed

 

Guy lobbied the DC management hard and things looked promising, but you don’t know until the day of the draft, do you? Sure enough. At 6^th overall, just one slot before DC would have almost certainly selected him, Guy’s name was called - by the Riga Reign. Guy was not going to D.C. Guy’s heart sank. He began to sink into an immediate funk.

 

The Phoenix Rises

 

But then, a miracle. He received a call from DC management. A draft day deal had been made. Immediately upon seeing Lesieur fall to the Reign, DC top brass worked the phones with Riga and struck a deal that would send Lesieur to DC. But the cost was steep. The pressure was on.

 

The Rest of the Story

 

Guy lived up to the pressure of that draft day trade. He played all but 32 games of his career with the Dragons, having been briefly rented out to the expansion London United in S73. When he finally hung up his skates in DC after the S76 season, Guy had scored 273 goals, notched 267 assists, netted 75 power play goals and lit the lamp with 54 game winning goals. Guy scored more than 40 goals in each of his final three seasons.

 

But What If?

 

But what if DC had not made the commitment and traded for him on that fateful day? What if the desire in DC had been there, but Riga wanted to hold on to recently acquired asset.

 

Descent and Doom

 

Guy looked on in shock as the announcers proclaimed, “And with the 6^th pick of the S69 VHL Draft, the Riga Reign select RW Guy Lesieur”. Sixth pick – that was impressive and something Lesieur should be thankful for. But it wasn’t DC and something in him just broke that day. It was completely irrational. The Reign was a fine organization. He was a first rounder with a bright future. But he couldn’t see it that way. His fixation on DC was more than a huge preference. It truly was an obsession.

 

Guy packed his bags and reported in Riga, but despite the warm welcome his heart was not in it. This translated quickly onto the ice and his play suffered mightily. It seemed that Guy had lost the ability to come within 2 feet of the net with his shots as they splattered all around the end boards. Coaching came immediately to his aid, but to no avail. He could not snap out of it.

 

His precipitous fall in performance baffled him and depressed him. He began to drink. Heavily. This, of course, led nowhere but to worse play on the ice. Coaches continued to work with him, but could not reach him. Guy became surly and completely unresponsive.

 

He eventually had to be sent back to the VHLM for an attitude correction and to tune his play. Again, no joy. This only made Lesieur more angry and bitter. He was finally released as a complete draft bust and a locker room cancer.

 

Guy never made it back into hockey though he did try to hook on with some semi-pro teams for a while. Now he is an assistant manager at a Walgreen’s drugstore.

 

Conclusion

 

Thank you to eno and mcwolf for saving Lesieur from this fate. And Riga, look at what a bullet you dodged. BTW, Centerman Luc Tessier has no such aversion to playing in Riga. lol @hedgehog337

Edited April 12, 2021 by KC15