Anaheim saw in Beauchemin what Avs could not
Anaheim Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin was awakened midway through his pregame nap Monday by his wife, Marie Claude. It must have been serious. And it was.
Pregame naps are as important to an NHL player as pregame warm-ups, but Marie Claude had reason to disturb her husband: Law enforcement officials were demanding the family evacuate their Anaheim-area home because of the Southern California wildfires. The smoke storm was quickly approaching.
Beauchemin, the former Avalanche defenseman surprisingly bought out by the club in June, had a lot on his plate at the time. He had a game that night at the Honda Center against the Calgary Flames. His parents were in town from Montreal. His two children were frightened. And he was trying to settle the family into a new house while trying to sell the Greenwood Village home his family lived in the last two years.
“We got everybody out, got in a hotel and I had a game Monday night,” Beauchemin said Friday from the Pepsi Center, following a morning skate on game day against the Avalanche. “It was the start of a very stressful week.”
The Beauchemins were allowed to return to their home Tuesday night. The scare was just that, with firefighters saving the home and others in the neighborhood. Francois flew to Colorado with the Ducks on Thursday and drove to look in on the selling of his Greenwood Village property.
Beauchemin, now in his third stint with the Ducks, signed with Colorado as a free agent from Anaheim in 2015. His buyout didn’t add up, because of the financial consequences for Colorado and because he has always been a player you want on your team. The Avs are paying him $1.5 million to play against them this season, and another $1.5 million next season when Beauchemin moves to the family farm in Quebec.
After Friday’s morning skate, Beauchemin reflected on his whirlwind summer that began with a phone call from Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic in June. Sakic told Beauchemin the team would buy out the final year of his three-year contract that paid him $4.5 million annually. At age 37, Beauchemin figured he was done playing in the NHL, because he wasn’t interested in moving his family again.
“It’s a big deal when you play all your life and then you find you’re not playing anymore, and you don’t expect it,” Beauchemin said. “I had some calls from different teams in July and that’s always fun to hear, but I wasn’t interested in moving my family around. So I made up my mind I wasn’t going to play (in the NHL) but maybe go with Team Canada for some tournaments and maybe play in the Olympics — until I got the call on Aug. 17.”
The call was from Anaheim GM Bob Murray, who wanted Beauchemin to return to the organization in which he played nine of his 12 NHL seasons. Murray wanted Beauchemin to be the veteran leader that he is and the player/coach for his young defensemen. Anyone who knows Beauchemin knows the guy doesn’t own an ego. He realizes he is no longer a top-pairing defenseman, or even a top-four on a good team. But he’s perhaps an ideal third-pairing guy because of his leadership and character.
The summer was stressful, and the Avs lost a player they could use. But in the end, it all worked out for Beauchemin and his family.
“Whenever you play against your old team, it’s a little weird, but honestly, when I went back to Anaheim, two years went by and it was like I never left,” he said. “We got lucky to find a house in the same neighborhood, the kids were back in the same schools with the same friends, and in the locker room I see all the same faces. There are only maybe four, five new faces. It feels like just yesterday when I left Anaheim. It was like moving back home.”
Mike Chambers: mchambers@ denverpost.com or @mikechambers