TAMPA, Fla. -- A statue for former Tampa Bay Lightning winger Dave Andreychuk is coming to Tampa Bay Times Forum.
The team announced Monday that the former captain and Stanley Cup champion will have a statue presented in his honor on Ford Thunder Alley outside the arena. It will be unveiled in a pregame ceremony at 6:30 p.m. before a home game April 5 against the Dallas Stars.
"Obviously, it's a great honor to me," Andreychuk told reporters Monday. "It's what Mr. Vinik is all about. It's first class, and I was overwhelmed when we were told. My family is overwhelmed, so it's obviously a great honor.
"I probably learned about it a couple of months ago. They started the statue when I was kind of brought in on it so I had a little bit of the process. I haven't seen much lately, but especially at the beginning when I announced it to my family, we were overwhelmed."
The statue, which will be nine feet tall and weigh about 600 pounds, will depict Andreychuk hoisting the Stanley Cup above his head after a Game 7 victory over the Calgary Flames in the 2004 finals. The work is being created by Steven Dickey, the artist who made the Phil Esposito statue that appears near the entrance to the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
"The image of captain Dave Andreychuk hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head at center ice is one of the most iconic memories in Lightning history," Lightning chairman and governor Jeff Vinik said in a release. "We are excited to share this moment with every fan that attends a Lightning home game by honoring Dave with this statue."
Andreychuk was the Lightning's captain during their Stanley Cup-winning season. He appeared in 278 games with them in the final four campaigns of his career, earning 68 goals and 129 points. In 1,639 career NHL games from 1982 to 2006, he had 640 goals and 1,338 points, and he owns the league record for power-play goals with 274.
Currently, Andreychuk holds a role with the franchise as its vice president of corporate and community affairs.
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
