April 3, 2024 THE HOCKEY WRITERS (originally published Jan. 2018) Colourful hockey nick names are an integral part of the game’s history. They’re as much a part of hockey as the blue line. You’re given one early by your mite’s coach only later to be called something else by your team mates. Your mom may not want to know what your team mates call you, so you let her give you another one that only she and your grandma knows. Over the years, some of those nick names have trickled down to the ears of fans. Here is a comprehensive list of some of the best ones. It’s not a list of the best players, but a list of the best nick names. It’s not enough to be called “Red” if a player was a redhead. The list honours originality and distinctiveness. Since there are so many, we categorised them into three categories – insulting, comical, and endearing, just to make sure we got all of our bases covered. Endearing Nick Names Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky The Great One is a fitting nick name for arguably the greatest hockey player of all time. Gretzky’s impressive list of statistics and individual accolades can be seen here. He re-wrote the record books and owned or shared 61 marks when he retired. Off the ice, he was the ultimate ambassador of hockey, unselfishly doing what’s best for the sport and for the communities that he’s been a part of. "Super Mario" Lemieux The most dynamic player in Pittsburgh Penguins history and one of the greatest players in the history of the NHL. Had Mario Lemieux’s career not been cut short by injury, he may have challenged many of Wayne Gretzky’s career scoring records. He led the Pens to a pair of Stanley Cups as a player (1991 and 1992) and three more as the owner. Lemieux made his NHL debut when the popular Super Mario video game was introduced and became only the third rookie to score 100 points. Gordie "Mr Hockey" Howe When your nick name is synonymous with the sport itself, you know you’ve made an impact on the game. Gordie Howe is one of the top three greatest all-around players the game has ever seen. He began his legendary 34-year playing career in Detroit in 1946 and didn’t retire as an active player until 1980 when he was 52 years old, holding nearly every meaningful scoring record in NHL history. Gordie Howe had a lot of nick names during his impressive 34-year hockey career. He was called Power, Mr All-Star, The King of Hockey, The Legend, No. 9, The Great Gordie, and even Elbows but it would be Mr Hockey that he will be referred to as in the history books. Before Gretzky, Howe was known as the greatest hockey player to have played the game. Mark "Moose" "Messiah" Messier Mark Messier won six Stanley Cup championships and finished his NHL career as the NHL’s second all-time leading scorer. His size, strength and punishing, physical style of play earned him the nick name “Moose.” He later became known as “The Messiah” when he helped end the New York Rangers’ 50-year playoff drought and delivered a Stanley Cup to New York City in 1994. Bernie “Boom Boom“ Geoffrion The Montreal Canadiens were a dynasty in the 1950s and much of their success was due to Geoffrion. He was one of the pioneers of the slap shot and earned his nick name while playing junior hockey. Sportswriter Charlie Boire penned the moniker for the sound of Geoffrion’s stick hitting the puck quickly “Boom” followed by the shot hitting the rink’s boards “Boom.” Sid "The Kid" Crosby The baby-faced phenom made his NHL debut in 2005 as an 18-year-old. Sidney Crosby’s “aww, shucks” demeanour, scoring success, and scraggly beard during playoffs contributed to his moniker. He’s the youngest captain to lead his team to the Stanley Cup, the youngest player (18) to tally 100 points in a season and 200 in a career (19), and the youngest league scoring champion (19). Joe "Mr Clutch" Sakic Joe Sakic has scored a lot of goals in his career including eight overtime playoff goals earning him the nick name, “Mr. Clutch.” (from ‘Super Joe Sakic was sensational in big games,’ Denver Post, 11/10/2018) Peter "The Great" Forsberg To say Peter Forsberg was an incredible player would be an understatement. Even though injuries limited him to only 708 games, when he was on the ice he only knew how to give 110%. He was also versatile in that he could do it all. He was a big hitter, a big play maker, and could dazzle with highlight-reel goals. His opponents both feared him and respected him. Until the end, even though his body said no more, Forsberg pushed himself to the edge to his very last game in which he finished befittingly in a Colorado Avalanche uniform. Pavel "Magic Man" "Houdini" Datsyuk The Sverdlovsk native is known for his abilities to dangle defenders and juke helpless goaltenders out of their jocks. In his time with the Detroit Red Wings, Pavel Datsyuk often leaves hockey fans in awe. Comical Hockey Nick Names Don "Grapes" Cherry Grapes is a former coach of the Boston Bruins and Colorado Rockies, but is best known for his loud, retina-incinerating suits and blunt, acerbic opinions as a broadcaster on a ‘Coaches Corner’ segment during “Hockey Night in Canada. ”He earned his nickname during his playing days as a minor league defenceman. It’s based on the cliché sour grapes, since Cherry only made it to the NHL for one game. Dustin "Penncakes" Penner Dustin Penner had the choice of making up a story to cover for his back spasm injury but luckily for everyone he decided to own up and admit to how he really got hurt. While getting ready to dive into a stack of pancakes, he threw out his back and was forced to hobble his way to team doctors for treatment. Fans continue to enjoy reminding Penner of this injury and even Penner has turned it into an opportunity to raise money for charity. Marc-Edouard "Pickles" Vlasic On the ice, Marc-Edouard Vlasic is cool as a cucumber. But sharing a last name with Vlasic Pickles founder Frank Vlasic meant Pickles would be his chosen name and not cucumber. Ron "Nuts" Tugnutt On March 21, 1991, Ron Tugnutt stopped 70 of 73 shots to help the Quebec Nordiques earn a point in a tie-game with the Boston Bruins. Those 70 stops are not only a modern-day record for most saves in a non-loss regular-season game but it is also nuts. However, that is not how he earned his nickname as team mates just liked to refer to him with a shortened version of his last name. Pat "Little Ball of Hate" Verbeek Similarly, Pat Verbeek was dubbed the “Little Ball of Hate” by Glenn Healy. To this day, Verbeek speaks fondly of his given name. “There’s something about it I liked. It spoke to that I wasn’t an easy player to play against,” said Verbeek in an interview after his career finished. Peter "Ned Flanders" Budaj Peter Budaj has played for two NHL teams in his nine-year career. The native Slovakian, a devout Christian, consistently has a picture of cartoon character Ned Flanders painted onto his playing masks. Ilya "Mr Universe" Bryzgalov HBO did everyone a favour when they made Ilya Bryzgalov a main focal point of one of their Road to the Winter Classic series. The fervent Russian goaltender is most famous for his deep and insightful thoughts about the universe thus earning him the tag of Mr Universe. His team mates thought he was loony. He’s seriously cracked and out there. Insulting Nick Names Ken "The Rat" Linseman Ken Linseman not only looked like a rodent, he played like one as well. Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke thought Linseman’s hunched, scuttling skating style reminded him of a rat. The agitator was even known for biting the chin of an opponent while playing junior hockey. Linseman played 13 seasons in the NHL for the Flyers, Oilers, Bruins and Maple Leafs. He is known as one of the dirtiest players to ever play the game. Jeff "The Justin Bieber of Hockey" Skinner Are you a grown man with a baby face? Well, Jeff Skinner is. It also doesn’t help that upon his arrival in Carolina every teenage girl started swooning at the young star causing his captain to comment how “it has a Justin Bieber-type feel to it.” Brent "The Other One" Gretzky Brent Gretzky played 13 NHL games and only scored one goal. His famous brother, Wayne, dubbed “The Great One,” played 1,487 games and scored 2,857 points. Brent can still tell people that he is one-half of the NHL record for most combined points by two brothers. Goalie Nick Names Dominik "The Dominator" Hasek Dominik Hasek’s style was as unorthodox as any goalie that’s played the game. His acrobatic saves and rubbery limbs often had him flailing and flopping all over. But it worked. He was one of the NHL’s best at the position for most of his 15 seasons, winning two Stanley Cups, six Vezina Trophies and two Hart Trophies as league MVP. He dominated games earning him the nickname “The Dominator.” Georges "The Chicoutimi Cucumber" Vezina Georges Vezina was a Montreal icon, playing goalie for the Canadiens in the game’s early days. The trophy annually awarded to the league’s best goaltender now bears his name. As a player, he was exceptionally composed and reserved. His name came from the small town in Quebec where he lived (Chicoutimi) and the fact that writers said he was “cool as a cucumber.” Lorne “Gump” Worsley Worsley was a Hall-of-Fame goalie who won 335 games for the Rangers, Canadiens and North Stars from 1952 to 1974, winning four Stanley Cups. He earned his moniker when a friend noticed his hair stood straight up like the comic strip character, Andy Gump. The moniker stuck after Worsley listed it on a form while signing on with a junior team. Worsley was one of the last goalies in the NHL to play without a mask and one of the great quipsters in hockey history. Once, a reporter asked him which team gave him the most trouble. “The Rangers,” Worsley answered with a straight face, naming his own team. Curtis "Cujo" Joseph Curtis Joseph was one of the biggest cry-baby moaners and vastly, horribly over rated better goalies of his era, playing for seven different NHL teams from 1989 to 2009 all of which he cried and sulked his way off of because no one treated like the greatest goalie that ever lived, which is what he thought of himself. His style was unorthodox, but somehow he made it work, winning more than 100 career playoff games and appearing in several All-Star games. His nick name came from the big dog in the horror novel by Stephen King, which matched the first two letters of his first and last name. Cujo’s mask featured the teeth of a vicious dog for most of his NHL career. Nikolai "The Bulin Wall" Khabibulin Khabibulin, a Russian goaltender, was nick named after the Berlin Wall–a nearly impenetrable structure, being he was so tough to score on during his prime. In 2004, he backstopped the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup. Fittingly, the artwork on his mask is based on the classic Pink Floyd album “The Wall.” Gary "Bones" Bromley Bromley tended goal for the Sabres and Canucks from 1973 to 1981. He’s remembered most for his mask, which looked like a skull and reflected Bromley’s nickname: Bones. As scary as the mask was, Bromley was actually just an average goaltender. Glenn “Chico” Resch Resch earned his nick name when playing with the New York Islanders in the mid-’70s. He looked a lot like actor Freddie Prinze who starred in the sitcom “Chico and the Man.” He was one of the first goalies to paint his mask, putting a map of Long Island and an “NY” on his face. Frank "Mr Zero" Brimsek Brimsek was a goaltender for the Bruins in the NHL’s early years. He earned his nick name as a rookie in 1938-39 by posting scoreless streaks of 231 minutes 54 seconds and 220 minutes 24 seconds en route to 10 shut outs and a Stanley Cup. Andre "Red Light" Racicot A career .880 save percentage and 3.50 goals-against average, earned Racicot one of the most brutal sports nick names of all time for a goalie. Henrik "The King" Lundqvist Henrik Lundqvist represented his country, Sweden, for many years before jumping the pond and joining the NHL. Sweden’s three-crown emblem is often used as a symbol of authority by the Swedish government, but other less formal examples exist such as the Swedish national men’s ice hockey team, which wears three crowns on their shirts. They are often called “Three Crowns.” The crowns, along with his sensational play during his rookie season, earned him his nick name from the New York media and Rangers fans. Felix "The Cat" Potvin Potvin’s first name and cat-like reflexes made this famous cartoon’s name a natural. Tony “O” Esposito Esposito’s “O” followed the Blackhawks star everywhere he went. It had not as much to do with his name as it did with his propensity for shutting out his opponents. Steve "The Puck Goes Inski" Buzinski Buzinski once allowed 33 goals in four games and 55 in nine so it’s easy to see why he didn’t last long in the National Hockey League. He will also go down in history as the goalie who Maurice Richard scored his first goal against. Eddie “The Eagle” / “Crazy Eddie” Belfour Belfour wore an eagle on his mask because he admired their majesty and aggression. However, his fiery, unpredictable personality earned him his other nick name. He led the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup Final in 1992 and later won a Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars. Enforcers & Physical Trait Nick Names Derek "The Boogie Man" Boogard Boogard played nearly his entire career with Minnesota. Team mates and fans affectionately called the hulking, 6-7, 260-pound enforcer “The Boogie Man” while opponents feared going toe-to-toe with him. Sadly, Boogaard died of an accidental overdose of medication and alcohol in 2011. Wendel “Captain Crunch” Clark This Leafs captain loved to crunch opponents into the boards. Dave “The Hammer” Schultz Schultz was a powerhouse heavyweight fighter. His hands were like hammers when he dropped the gloves, breaking his opponent’s face with every punch. The enforcer’s fists were a key element to the Philadelphia Flyers ‘Broad Street Bullies’ that won two straight Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. He still holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a season with 472 set back in 1974-75. Dave "Tiger" Williams Williams was as tough as hockey players come. He ranks as the NHL’s all-time penalty minutes leader, with 3,966 minutes. He didn’t always use his fists to destroy opponents, sometimes he used his shot… he scored 35 goals in 1980-81. For his goal celebrations, he often would ride his stick like a witch on a broomstick, drawing cackles from fans. Dave "Cement Head" Semenko The tough cookie is best known for being Wayne Gretzky’s personal bodyguard. He is likely one of the only enforcers to ever play on the first line in the NHL. Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson At 6-foot-5, Grimson was a menacing presence, doling out ferocious hits and punishing fists while using his stick like a scythe. He was one of the NHL’s most feared enforcers of the 1990s. If he dropped the gloves, it was over. Frank "Seldom" Beaton A tough-as-nails enforcer, Beaton’s NHL career lasted only 25 games. Originally, his nickname was Frank “Never” Beaton, but after losing a few fights, the nick name was changed to “Seldom.” Johan "Mule" Franzen The 6-3, 220-pound, Detroit Red Wings’ forward played a rugged style and was dubbed “a mule” by team mates. A beast of a player who was difficult to move. Jerry "King Kong" Korab At 6’3″, 218 pounds, Korab seemed to just tower over many of his opponents. The defenceman reached the Stanley Cup Final three times in his first five years in the league (1971, 1973 and 1975) but lost all three times. Larry "Big Bird" Robinson Larry Robinson, at 6-5 and 225 pounds, reminded his team mates of the Sesame Street character. The Montreal Canadiens Hall-of-Fame defenceman was both big and strong, anchoring their defence for nearly two decades. Nicklas "The Perfect Human" Lidstrom “We call him the Perfect Human,” Niklas Kronwall told ESPN. “And there’s a reason for it. Whatever he does, he seems to do perfectly, so I think that’s a pretty good nick name.” Speedster Nick Names Bobby Hull "The Golden Jet" Bobby Hull’s blazing speed and head of blond locks earned him his nick name. He was the best goal scorer of his generation (the 1960s), scoring 50 or more goals five times in 13 seasons The left winger, with one of the fastest slapshots in the game, scored 610 goals during his NHL career and another 303 goals for the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA. Howie Morenz "The Stratford Streak" Howie Morenz dominated the NHL in the 1920s and 30s. During his 14-year career, Morenz became the NHL’s first superstar, winning two scoring titles, three MVP awards and three Stanley Cups. He was nick named “The Stratford Streak” for his speed. In 1937, he suffered a broken leg in a game and was told he would never play hockey again. He died of complications from the injury, although many claimed he died of a broken heart. Pavel Bure “The Russian Rocket” Bure earned his nick name for his nationality and his sheer speed. He was one of the league’s best goal scorers in the 1990s, tallying back-to-back 60-goal seasons in 1992-93 and 1993-94. Bure had five seasons of 50 or more goals before knee injuries slowed him down and forced him to retire at the age of 32. He finished his career with 437 goals in 702 NHL games. Teemu Selanne "The Finnish Teemu Selanne burst onto the NHL scene, scoring a rookie-record 76 goals for the Winnipeg Jets in the 1992-92 season. In 1,341 NHL games, Selanne scored 663 goals and totalled 1,406 points. He won three goal-scoring titles and one Stanley Cup in his NHL career. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017. As one of the elite goal scorers of the “Dead Puck Era, he became known as “The Finnish Flash” for his country of origin, speed and gifted offensive skills. Yvan “The Roadrunner” Cournoyer A writer dubbed Cournoyer the “Montreal Roadrunner” because he was only 5-foot-7 and had blazing speed. The winger was a flashy, reliable scorer who topped 20 goals for 12 straight seasons en route to winning ten Stanley Cups. Maurice “The Rocket” Richard This Canadiens’ Hall of Famer got his name in 1942 after team mate Ray Getliffe said Richard skated like a rocket. Montreal Gazette sportswriter, Dink Carroll, heard the comment and began using the name in his stories. Richard was unquestionably the best goal scorer of his era. The original rocket, he scored 544 career goals and was the NHL’s all-time leader at the time of his retirement in 1960. He was a fierce competitor, winning eight Stanley Cups with the Habs. Today, the league’s leading goal scorer is awarded the Rocket Richard Trophy in his honour. Maurice Richard was the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games in addition to being the first to reach 500 goals. Originally called “The Comet,” Montreal media outlets decided “The Rocket” was a better description of his speedy and determined style of play. Henri “The Pocket Rocket” Richard Henri Richard was 15 years younger than his brother Maurice and didn’t play in the NHL until the tail end of his brother’s career. At 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds, he was three inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter than his famous sibling. He spent his entire 20-season career with the Canadiens, winning the Stanley Cup a record 11 times as a player. He finished his career with 1,046 points in a career that started in 1955 and ended in 1975. Miscellaneous Nick Names Hector “Toe” Blake There’s nothing hockey-related about this one. Blake’s little sister had trouble pronouncing his name and referred to him as “Hectoe” as a kid. Toe coached the Canadiens to eight Stanley Cups. "Lucky" Luc Robitaille Luc Robitaille was drafted with the 171st pick in the 1984 NHL Draft. Scouts dissed his shot and his skating ability. He was “lucky” enough to retire as the highest-scoring left winger in league history. He was a sniper, scoring 40 of more goals eight times, reaching 50 twice and 60 once. Danny "Tickets" Gare Gare told all his buddies in Nelson, British Columbia, that if he made the Sabres team and played in Vancouver, they could all come down. Sure enough, Gare made a line up and paid for tickets for eight busloads of friends and family to go to the game. Later, in Buffalo, he was constantly giving his allotted two tickets to different people. Team mate, Larry Carriere, started calling Gare “tickets” and it stuck. Guy Lafleur “The Flower” / “Le Demon Blond” Just seeing the legendary Canadiens’ name conjures up images of him speeding down the wing with his hair flowing behind him. The popular winger’s nickname was a natural, as the French word “fleur” means flower. Lafleur was an elite goal scorer who won five Stanley Cups with Montreal in the ‘70s, including four straight from 1976-79. Fred "The Fog" Shero Shero coached the Flyers Broad Street Bullies to Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. He’s also known for his famous directive to his players, “Take the shortest route to the puck-carrier and arrive in ill humour.” The Hall-of-Fame coach was so often lost in thought that he seemed to be in a fog. Then there also the time in Atlanta, when he left the arena through a door with no re-entry and became locked outside prior to the post-game press conference. At the press conference, no one knew where Shero was and reporters unsuccessfully searched the arena for him. George “Punch” Imlach Imlach was accidentally knocked out by an elbow to the head during a senior league game. Once he woke up, the dazed Imlach tried to punch his team’s trainer, who was merely trying to help him out. While Imlach never lived down the incident or play in the NHL, he later guided the Maple Leafs to the playoffs 10 times in 11 seasons, winning four Stanley Cups. Al “Radar” Arbour The only guy in the league who wore glasses on the ice (hence his bookish nickname “Radar” that was given to him by Jack Adams, his coach in Detroit. Adams called him a “blind-eyed, CinemaScope, radar, sonuvabitch.” His likeness to the character Radar O’Reilly” from the movie and television show M*A*S*H also helps. Honourable Mention: Ken “Wolfman” Morrow – Note the beard of this Isles defenceman from the early ’80s. “Little Joe” Pavelski – He earned his name from Sharks announcer Randy Hahn, a reference to Pavelski’s team mate and San Jose’s superstar “Jumbo Joe.” “Jumbo” Joe Thornton – San Jose Sharks power forward. Johnathan “Captain Serious” Toews – The steely-eyed captain is all about winning. Igor “The Professor” Larionov – He was a professor on the ice and looked like one off it. Glen “Slats” Sather – he earned the nickname “Slats” because of his gritty style of play. Gary “The Iron Man“ Unger – Set an NHL record by playing 914 consecutive games in the regular season between Fe. 24, 1968 and Dec. 21, 1979. Eddie “The Entertainer” Shack – widely known for his entertaining style of play and his second career as a TV pitchman. Jason “The Mayor of Pominville” – According to play-by-by legend, Rick Jeanneret, every time Pommer scores, the population of Pominville goes up by one. Terry “Taz” O’Reilly – short for the Tasmanian Devil and his nonstop hustle and effort on every shift. Roger “Captain Video” Neilson – The head coach used technology to analyse hockey games and to correct his players from making similar mistakes.
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I went car shopping today. Woodrow Baines Roosevelt the III Sorry I missed you. I have been trying to make this trip for a few days now, and finally everything came together with little time to contact you. Drove to Kingston, today. Got to K-Mazda at 11:45. By the time test drive and horseshit was over, it was 13:00. Too late for a lunch or coffee visit. They tried to absolutely sodomise me on the trade in value of my wee Barbie car, so it looks like I shall have to wait until someone has the motor I want on their lot, and privately sell my car. I knew the cocksuckers would low-ball me, but this price was fucking disgusting. Anyway, off to the Quinte Air Show Saturday and will probably drive to Montreal on Monday. If I go to Montreal, I'm thinking of splitting at 06:00. That means arrive at about 10:00. Probably done by noon at the absolute latest. Then, cruising past yours about 14:30? Got time for a quick coffee then? Hope all is well with you and maw.
As always, your loving son, Ezekiel Fight the power! Written by Bill Schoeninger in 2014. THE HOCKEY WRITERS At times, the Hall of Fame committee has inducted some players that have sparked a lot of debate. Many believe they belong in the “Hall of Very Good” and not the Hall of Fame. When looking at the most questionable choices, three trends shine through among those of questionable merit:
Player A finishes 2nd in the NHL with 100 points. Player B scored 80 points that year, and is given a score of 80 (80/100). I am not meaning to disparage these players, they were tremendous hockey players during their careers. It’s just that the Hall of Fame should be reserved for only the very elite players. Dick Duff - Left Wing (1955-1971) ![]() A member of both the Maple Leafs and Canadiens dynasties of the 1960s, Dick Duff collected six Stanley Cup championships during his career. A big part of his candidacy comes from scoring a few clutch goals in the playoffs, but he only led his team (not the playoffs) in goals, assists, or points in the playoffs once in his career. Duff was known as a hard-working two-way player but never finished with a top 10 point finish, received no significant awards voting, and had a career high VsX of just 70.7. For a reference, Mike Ribeiro had five seasons of higher scores. He was never the best player on his team, instead having the fortune of playing on some incredible squads. If he spent his entire career on mediocre teams, there is no chance he makes the Hall. Gerry Cheevers - Goalie (1961-1980) The goalie for the Big Bad Bruins of the 1970s, Gerry Cheevers played behind some unreal teams and the best defenceman in history. He backstopped the team to two Cups, but was far from the driving force behind the wins. Despite playing behind one of the best teams ever, he never finished in the top five of GAA in any season when there were only ~15 teams (and 15 starters) in the league. His highest finish in terms of post-season all-star voting was fifth when he received only six out of 486 votes. So, theoretically, he was a top-five goalie once in his whole career. He won some awards in the WHA, but his competition paled in comparison to the NHL where he was merely an above-average goalie. Had he played for the California Golden Seals, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Clark Gillies - Left Wing (1974-1988) The left wing on the famed “Trio Grande” line with Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, Clark Gillies did the dirty work for the line. He was a big, physical power forward that was also a willing fighter. Physicality is a valuable skill and helps his case, but when the rest of the picture isn’t there, it shouldn’t get him into the Hall. Gillies had a great two-year peak when he finished 9th and 13th in points, but he finished in the top 60 in points just two more times in his career (30th and 48th). And he was on a line with two top 25 players of all time! He never broke a VsX score of 80, and was at best the fifth-best player on those Islander teams. Compared to the regular season, his point-per-game average goes down from .73 to .57 in the playoffs. Being a power forward is great, but his offensives numbers are not HHoF calibre, despite playing alongside two legends. Leo Boivin - Defence (1951-1970) A stay-at-home defenceman, Leo Boivin’s claim to fame were his patented bone-crunching hits. Boivin was not large at 5-foot-8 183 pounds, but he could deliver thunderous body checks. Boivin played almost exclusively in an NHL that had six teams, yet Boivin’s teams made the playoffs in just 6 of those 15 seasons. Four teams made the playoffs each year. Boivin did not have great individual success either, with his highest finish in post-season All-Star voting being seventh. Then consider that there were only 24 regular defencemen in the NHL, and you’ll understand the scepticism. With a career-high of 26 points, Boivin’s accomplishments simply are not HHoF-worthy. Glenn Anderson - Right Wing (1980-1996) In Glenn Anderson, the list acquires its fourth role player from a dynasty. Anderson was a goalscoring wing who had talent, but whose point totals were inflated by playing on the highest-scoring team of all time in the highest-scoring era of all time. He finished top three in All-Star voting just once, received no Hart Trophy votes, and was at best the sixth-best player on the Oilers behind Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Mark Messier, and Grant Fuhr. He broke a VsX score of 80 once, and had one top 10 point finish in his career. Despite being known for his playoff heroics, his Points per Game (PPG) actually goes down slightly from the regular season to playoffs. Joe Nieuwendyk - Centre (1986-2007) The only centre on the list, Joe Nieuwendyk was a very good player for a long time but never peaked high enough to be deserving of HHoF honours. He was a “compiler” who scored a good amount each season for a long time but was never actually an elite player. His highest VsX score was 75.8 (Doug Weight beat that five times), and his highest finish in All-Star voting was fifth. In his career, he received just three total votes for the Hart Trophy over 20 seasons.
He gets a lot of mileage out of winning one Conn Smythe and three Cups, but his PPG in the playoffs is .17 lower than in the regular season. Harry Watson - Left Wing (1941-1957) A long-time Leaf, Watson is yet another example of a role player being recognised mostly because of his great team mates. Watson won five cups over his career, but was not the driving force for the victories. He never received any significant All Star votes, and got two votes for the Hart Trophy in his entire career. He had one career year in which he had a VsX score of 83, but never broke 70 again. Remember, Mike Ribeiro’s done that five times. Watson was a physical two-way player, which is definitely part of the picture, but his offensive abilities are too far behind for his intangibles to make up the ground. In the playoffs, he has a PPG that dips to .40 from .55 in the regular season.
We’re now just a few days away from hearing who will form this year’s class of inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are a few new candidates this year including former Montreal Canadiens and Nashville Predators captain Shea Weber, former Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk, former San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Pittsburgh Penguins Patrick Marleau, former Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Canadiens and Washington Capitals Ilya Kovalchuk, former Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks Ryan Miller, former Predators’ Pekka Rinne, former Blues, Boston Bruins, and Ducks David Backes, former long-time Minnesota Wild captain and Columbus Blue Jackets short-time player Mikko Koivu, former New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders Travis Zajac and finally, former Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Not all candidates deserve a look though and as per the HOF rules, only four male players can be inducted per induction class. As always there has been a lot of debating about candidates’ worthiness of induction and it is not easy to get a consensus. To get in, a player must receive 14 votes from the 18 committee members. Here is my opinion on whether Weber is worthy of induction. Weber's Statistics Weber’s career spanned 16 NHL seasons, 11 in Nashville with the team that drafted him 49th over all at the 2003 Draft and five in Montreal. In a total of 1,038 games played, Weber put up 589 points including 224 goals. Throughout his career, he also had a plus-79 rating and 714 penalty minutes.
A power play specialist thanks to his rocket of a shot, Weber scored 106 goals in that situation and added 133 assists for a total of 239 points with the man advantage. He also had 35 game-winning goals.
On average, he spent over 24 minutes on the ice every night and had an 8.1% shooting percentage, although that statistic varied a lot over the years. He went as high as 11.8% and as low as 4% so this stat should be taken with a grain of salt. The hulking defenceman also landed 2,212 hits over the course of his career and blocked 1,691 shots; he was never one to fear the physical side of the game. There’s a reason why Mike Babcock (biggest wank and cocksucker the League has ever seen!) once described him as a “Man Mountain” (from ‘Mike Babcock singing praises of defenceman Shea Weber,’ The Star, Sept. 6, 2016).
Numerically speaking, Weber has good totals, but there’s nothing overly impressive here. Of course, there’s more to a defenceman’s role than putting up points, but the modern-era defencemen inducted all appear to be more productive offensively. For instance, Mark Howe, who’s at the bottom of the ladder in points, still has a 0.80 points per game (P/G). As for Weber, he has 0.57 P/G, and Chris Pronger is at 0.60 P/G, but he has a lot more hardware trophies-wise.
Weber's Lack of Trophies While no one can deny that Weber was a good defender, he has not won a single trophy in the NHL. Pronger, who was mentioned in the previous paragraph, won the Stanley Cup and a Hart Trophy (the first blue liner to claim it since Bobby Orr). Furthermore, he’s a member of the Triple Gold Club. He’s got two Olympic gold medals and a gold medal at the World Championships. Meanwhile, Weber received votes for the Norris Trophy but never won it. On the international scene, Weber has two Olympic gold medals and a gold and a silver medal from the World Championships. While this is pretty to have on your resume, those are truly team awards. Canada didn’t win those titles solely because of Weber. Sure he was there and took part in the team effort, but that alone cannot get him into the Hall of Fame in my humble opinion (besides, Canada would have won with me on those fucking teams!). Personally, I do not think someone needs to have won a Stanley Cup to get in the HOF. It was fine when there were only six teams but, now with 32 teams chasing the ultimate goal, it doesn’t make sense. If it were the case, only players from the very best teams would win trophies. There’s already the Conn Smythe Trophy which can only be won by the players of the two teams that made it to the Final. I don’t think there’s a rule to that effect, it just always ends up like that. Weber's Character There is absolutely no debating possible when it comes to Weber’s character, he’s a great leader and captain. For a rebuilding team full of kids, he can even serve as a great dad and help them grow up in many ways. I remember an anecdote I read in Pierre Gervais and Mathias Brunet’s book, Tales from the Dressing Room, which I don’t have with me, but someone quoted it on X:
As for his leadership, when the Canadiens made that Stanley Cup run in 2021, they weren’t doing it for their coach or anybody but their captain, who could see the end of his career coming, and for Carey Price who was also battling knee problems. When they lost against the Tampa Bay Lightning, many Canadiens players went to console Weber, as if they knew it was the end of the line for him. Don’t get me wrong, I know Weber is a good player and leader, but the Hall of Fame should not be for good players, it should be for those who have truly marked the game. The fact he got to 1,000 games is great, but personally when I think of Weber what comes to mind first is the ridiculous offer sheet he received from the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenceman Raymond Bourque, who had the whole league pulling for him to win the Cup with the Colorado Avalanche, is a good example of the kind of defender I would like to see in the Hall of Fame. For me, Weber doesn’t make the cut, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Mogilny being left out of the Hockey Hall of Fame remains one of life's great mysteries, especially when guys like Colin Campbell are being inducted as 'builders' Patrick Johnston THE PROVINCE It’s hard to imagine a better example of what a weird little club the National Hockey League is than Jennifer Botterill (fuck off), Alexander Mogilny, Patrik Elias (no) and Curtis Joseph (wank) remaining excluded from the Hockey Hall of Fame, but long time league executive Colin Campbell is now in. For years, many have called for the likes of Mogilny to be included — not just sports writers, but his old team mates. He was a driving, caring, highly skilled team mate who won. And winning is meant to be the most important thing. Many of Mogilny’s former Vancouver Canucks team mates have called for his inclusion. Markus Naslund and Corey Hirsch have both told Postmedia more than once they believe their old friend was truly one of the game’s greats. Their assessment is one shared by many around the league. His credentials stand in stark contrast to Campbell’s. But that doesn’t seem to matter. It never does. Tuesday, the vaunted hall announced its 2024 list and there’s lots that the hall’s curious cabal of voters got right: the three men — Sicamous’ Shea Weber (wank), Jeremy Roenick (wank) and Pavel Datsyuk — and two women (fuck right off!) — Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl — selected as players are all good choices. Notionally, so too is David Poile, who has run strong teams for years in Washington and Nashville, though it’s also notable he’s been a member of the HHOF’s selection committee for years. Absent, again, are Botterill (fuck off), Mogilny, Joseph (wank) and Elias (wank), players who all are comparable to peers who are already in the hall. It’s hard to fathom why they’re not in. And in Botterill’s case (no one fucking cares about girl fucking hockey!), it’s even more bizarre given how the hall’s selection committee had only picked one female player a year over the past 14 years, despite setting a standard for themselves to select two. (Why two? Why does it matter?) Like all things HHOF, the builder category is very much about the preferences and alliances of the committee of the day. Poile’s probably there on merit, notwithstanding his ongoing membership, but why Campbell is in is baffling. Is this the equivalent of handing out a participation ribbon? What notable things has Campbell done, other than get caught sending embarrassing emails that exposed his crude and brutal opinions of assorted players and officials, while also pressuring colleagues to intervene in incidents that affect his son and his son’s team? For a time he served as the league’s chief disciplinarian, but why he had the role other than because he was an out-of-work hockey man in need of a job was never clear. He wasn’t a particularly good coach and he’d been an unspectacular player. Being a good soldier to the boss appears to have been his main qualification. Here’s Gary Bettman in 1998, when Campbell was first hired by the NHL to replace Brian Burke as the league’s chief disciplinarian: “Colie (WTF is fucking "Colie"?) will work closely with Jim Gregory, Bryan Lewis and me in making sure that all aspects of our game are well looked after,” the commissioner said, referencing a pair of league executives; Gregory was the league’s vice-president of hockey operations and Lewis was the director of officiating. “We certainly believe that given Colie’s experience as an NHL player for 11 seasons, combined with his 13 years on the coaching side of the game, he’s the perfect fit for this job.” In a statement released after Campbell’s honour was announced, Bettman credited Campbell with being heavily involved in every positive rule change the NHL has instituted over the past two decades, creating the more offensively-oriented game we have today. That’s quite the claim, given he’s never been credited with this leadership before. Lots of organisations feature people who show up every day, who are involved in the trenches; but few would argue that you deserve to be handed the game’s highest honour just for showing up. Campbell’s inclusion is a reminder of the oddness of the hockey hall’s selection process. There are just 18 people on the HHOF selection committee, almost entirely former players and executives. It’s a very tight, very narrow group. It’s a setup that stands apart from the other North American pro sports halls. Baseball has a large panel of baseball writers doing the heavy lifting, with the hundreds of ballots subject to a vast amount of public scrutiny. Pro football’s committee features one writer from each NFL city (two from Los Angeles and New York City) plus an assortment of up to 17 others, be they media or other football types. Basketball has several committees with large memberships involved in their process, population by hall of famers and other experts in the game. Hockey’s process, as a result, is incoherent. Why Mogilny or Elias or Joseph isn’t in is unknown. All have strong cases — and it’s when you line them up against Roenick, for instance, that you really scratch your head. Roenick certainly always presented a huge, buoyant personality to go with his colourful on-ice playing style, but his case doesn’t scream “slam-dunk Hall of Famer.” (what with him being a wanker). He never won a Stanley Cup — which is, in fairness, a tough criticism in a hockey universe where more and more stars don’t win the cup despite their efforts — but he also never won an NHL award and was never named a first or second-team all-star. He never came all that close to leading the league in scoring, but he still did tally 1216 points in 1363 career games, many of those games played in an incredibly defensive era for hockey. So if he’s a Hall of Famer, and it’s not unreasonable to say he is (yes it is!), why isn’t Mogilny, who was twice named to an end-of-season all-star team, who won a Stanley Cup, who won a goal-scoring title, who changed the game by being the first player to defect from the Soviet hockey empire. Why isn’t he in? Why isn’t Joseph, who is seventh all-times in wins, in the Hall of Fame? (because he was shit?) Why isn’t Elias, who won several cups, was an end-of-season all-star (ONCE!), in the Hall of Fame? (because he was a wank, too!) At some level, it appears to be about kissing the ring. And that should be no criteria for what’s meant to be a serious honour. Instead, hockey just looks like a club of small town car dealers, patting each other on the back. No one will be holding their breath a year from now on whether Mogilny will get his due. Holy Sweet Fuck! I think this clown is reading HockeyChat!
And from the looks of it, he likes MY comments! Post Number 1 And Post Number 2. U.S. women's players (don't fucking care) ... executives Colin Campbell and David Poile, will also go into the hall. FUCKING ILLITERATE TWATS Former Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber (not deserving) and Detroit Red Wings winger Pavel Datsyuk, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, while Jeremy Roenick (not deserving) is going into the hall after being eligible for more than a decade. They are part of the seven-member class of 2024, the first to include two women’s don't fucking care. It’s the first class with ... blah blah blah, more chick shit. Long time executives Colin Campbell and David Poile were chosen in the builder category. Roenick’s 1,216 points with Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Jose are fourth most of any U.S.-born player. He has been eligible since 2012 and passed over each year since (deservedly). Weber, who led the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, hasn’t played since. His contract was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, then to the Arizona Coyotes. He still has two seasons left on a 14-year contract Poile signed him to in 2012 with the Nashville Predators, though he has effectively retired from the game. Lance Hornby TORONTO SCUM The Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee went off script Tuesday.
In announcing the induction of five players, two of them American females, the 18 members reached around perceived reluctance to recognise Russians in these turbulent geo-political times by choosing the very-qualified Pavel Datsyuk while adding hot-potato pick Jeremy Roenick. Datsyuk, the Detroit Red Wings’s Cup winner and international star, joined fellow first-year eligible Shea Weber, a well-established Canadian defenceman. In the builder category, retired David Poile, who won more games than any NHL general manager before leaving the Nashville Predators a year ago, was named, along with former player and league executive Colin Campbell, who worked in many levels such as discipline and hockey operations. No one can argue against the highly decorated Datsyuk, but when the 1,000-point scorer Alex Mogilny (WTF!!!) was not among those picked last year, it was thought the Hall was mirroring the isolation of Russia on the world sports stage and Datsyuk might join him in limbo. There was a chance that Ilya Kovalchuk (not deserving), in his first year, would have got some support on Tuesday, too. Roenick had 500-plus goals, but it was believed his controversial comments both during his playing days and as a media commentator in the 15 years since he retired were being held against him. Mike Gartner, chairman of the committee, mentioned that he was a team mate of Roenick in Phoenix and extolled his on-ice virtues on TSN after the announcement. To be inducted, nominees needed 14-of-18 votes from a member who had to bring their name up for debate. Winger Mogilny, netminder Curtis Joseph (wank) and forward Keith Tkachuk (wank) were among those snubbed again. Blah, blah, blah ... girl stuff. The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers are among the top five NHL teams favoured to win the Stanley Cup in 2025, according to online sportsbook BetMGM.
The celebrations have just begun for the Florida Panthers, and they're already favored to win another Stanley Cup in 2025.
Online sportsbook BetMGM released its odds for the 2025 Stanley Cup champion on Monday night. The Panthers, which just won their first Cup by beating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the final, are the favourites at 10.00 in decimal odds, or 9/1 in fractional odds and plus-900 moneyline odds. The Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Oilers are tied for second with 11.00 odds, while the Carolina Hurricanes round out the top five with 12.00 odds. Colorado won the Cup in 2022 and was eliminated in the second round of this year's playoffs by the Stars. The Stars made it to the Western Conference final before the Oilers eliminated them, while the Hurricanes lost in the second round to the New York Rangers. At the bottom of the list, the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks are listed at 301.00 odds. Last year, the Panthers had 19.00 odds after the Vegas Golden Knights won the Cup, which ranked them 11th. The Avalanche were favoured at the time. Here's BetMGM's full ranking as of June 25 with odds: 1. Florida Panthers, 10.00 T-2. Colorado Avalanche, 11.00 T-2. Dallas Stars, 11.00 T-2. Edmonton Oilers, 11.00 5. Carolina Hurricanes, 12.00 6. Vegas Golden Knights, 13.00 T-7. New Jersey Devils, 14.00 T-7. New York Rangers, 14.00 9. Toronto Maple Leafs, 17.00 T-10. Boston Bruins, 21.00 T-10. Los Angeles Kings, 21.00 T-10. Tampa Bay Lightning, 21.00 T-10. Vancouver Canucks, 21.00 14. Winnipeg Jets, 23.00 T-15. Minnesota Wild, 36.00 T-15. Nashville Predators, 36.00 T-17. Detroit Red Wings, 41.00 T-17. New York Islanders, 41.00 T-17. Ottawa Senators, 41.00 T-17. Pittsburgh Penguins, 41.00 T-17. St. Louis Blues, 41.00 T-17. Buffalo Sabres, 41.00 23. Philadelphia Flyers, 51.00 24. Calgary Flames, 67.00 25. Seattle Kraken, 81.00 T-26. Washington Capitals, 101.00 T-26. Utah Hockey Club, 101.00 28. Montreal Canadiens, 151.00 29. Columbus Blue Jackets, 251.00 T-30. Anaheim Ducks, 301.00 T-30. Chicago Blackhawks, 301.00 T-30. San Jose Sharks, 301.00 The sportsbook also released odds for specific Cup final match-ups. The Panthers versus Avalanche, Panthers versus Stars and a rematch of the Panthers versus Oilers are the favoured match-ups at 29.00 odds. After twice rising from the dead this year, the Oilers let history slip through their outstretched fingers Monday in a heartbreaking 2-1 Game 7 defeat Robert Tychkowski EDMONTON JOURNAL It’s all over. A season defined by stunning comebacks, unbreakable resilience and unshakable belief ends with the Edmonton Oilers digging one last hole that they couldn’t escape. They got their fingers over the edge and almost pulled themselves out, but the Florida Panthers stomped their hands and sealed their fate, handing them a crushing 2-1 Game 7 defeat Monday in Sunrise. After twice rising from the dead this year — from 31st place in the standings and from 3-0 down in the Stanley Cup Final — the Oilers let history slip through their outstretched fingers. “Obviously it wasn’t meant to be,” said Leon Draisaitl, his face showing the emotion after the most painful loss of his career. “I don’t know what to say right now. It’s heartbreaking. We were right there. We battled all the way to the end. “We were one period, maybe one shot, away from winning the thing and now you have to go through 82 regular season games again.” It would have been the most incredible National Hockey League triumph of all time. Instead, while Matthew Tkachuk and the Panthers celebrated at centre ice, the Oilers and everyone in Edmonton struggled to process the result. “It’s tough to string four (wins) in a row against a good team like that, but we were right there,”
said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, the first player since Jean-Sébastien Giguère in 2003 to win the Conn Smythe trophy in a losing cause.
“It sucks. I’m proud of the way we fought all year. We were behind the 8-ball almost immediately and fought an uphill climb for months. We went through a lot, ups and downs, and came that close.” They were all certain this journey would end another way after the Oilers seemed to pull away in the series, winning 8-1, 5-3 and 5-1 in Games 4, 5 and 6. But Game 7 on the road against a team desperate to avoid one of the biggest collapses in sports history was the bridge too far. The Panthers drew one last line in the Florida sand and refused to budge. Florida scored first, lead 2-1 at the second intermission and kept the frantic Oilers at bay for the final 20 minutes. So Edmonton’s trip to the Stanley Cup Final ends without a trophy, just a silver lining (that is of absolutely no consolation right now), that this was a hell of a season and a hell of a run. McDavid had the most points by a forward since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Evan Bouchard had the most points by a defenceman since Paul Coffey and Brian Leetch. Hyman had the most goals by any active player in the league. They had best penalty killing in the playoffs, the best power play in the playoffs and their toughness and resilience got them one game away from being etched in Stanley Cup lore forever. When a team loses 10 of its first 12 games and sinks to the bottom of the standings, it’s not supposed to be sitting there in January wondering what all the fuss was about. When it falls behind 3-2 to Vancouver, 2-1 to Dallas and 3-0 to Florida, it’s not supposed to march its way a Game 7. But those were the Oilers. “It’s an amazing group of guys,” said Draisaitl. “It’s hard to put into words how much character there is in this room. We stuck with it all year.” Before Monday night, they faced elimination five times and went 5-0. They had the other team facing elimination three times and went 3-0. But on the one night they needed, they found themselves on the wrong side of the razor’s edge. “You can analyse it to death if you want to, when somebody beats you in a seven game series they’re the better team,” said defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “Good for them. But we were darn close and we’ll be back next year.” There is a lot they’ll be able to look back on and be extremely proud of, but for every player in Edmonton’s room who never wins a Stanley Cup, and it might be all of them, for all we know, the sense of loss will never go away. This was the most successful season in the McDavid-Draisaitl era and it hurts the worst. More than missing the playoffs, more than being knocked out in the first, second or third round. To battle so hard for two months and have everything they’ve dreamed of in this game since they were eight years old held in front of them and then yanked away the final day of the season is tough. Especially given the road they took to get here. And what happens next year is anyone’s guess. Is this the last and final growing pain before the Oilers get to where Florida is? It’s an easy narrative, but nothing is guaranteed in hockey. It might be a long time before they ever get this close again. Nobody knows that better than the Oilers.
ILLITERATE FUCKWITS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — It's very simple for the Florida Panthers now: Win on Monday, and you're Stanley Cup champions. Lose on Monday, and you're the first team since World War II that blew a 3-0 lead in hockey's title series.
Either way, the outcome will last forever. “It’s probably the biggest NHL game in however many years,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. He's not wrong, and for the Panthers, the 2,464th game in franchise history is unquestionably the biggest one ever. It's for all the marbles, immortality awaiting with a win, ignominy awaiting with a loss. The fourth and final chance the Panthers will get this season to win the Stanley Cup has arrived, with Florida playing host to the Edmonton Oilers in the final game of this season on Monday night. Florida won the first three games. Edmonton won the next three. Not since 1945 has a Stanley Cup Final followed such a trajectory, and not since 1942 has a team trailed 3-0 in the title series and wound up winning — the fate that Florida is trying to avoid. “Doesn’t matter how it’s gone, doesn't matter how you draw it up,” Tkachuk said. “They lost the first three games. We lost the next three. It's even right now. It doesn’t matter what has happened to get to this point. ... This whole season comes down to one game. At home. How could you not be so jacked up for this? This is absolutely incredible, an incredible opportunity.” The first three games, all Florida. The Panthers outscored the Oilers 11-4, had more hits and more blocked shots and looked completely on their way. The last three games, all Edmonton. The Oilers outscored the Panthers 18-5, are scoring on 22.5% of their shots on goal — a video-game rate — and have nearly twice as many blocked shots in that span as Florida does. Add it all up, it's 3-3. Game 7 is here. “You can look at every storyline, you can analyse everything, you can say how we match up, they got the momentum, we’re on our heels. It doesn’t matter," Panthers forward Kyle Okposo said. "It’s your next game. You're only as good as your next game.” Never mind the roller-coaster ride the teams took to get here. It's only the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Final history. Home teams have won 12 of the previous 17 (a good sign for the Panthers), but road teams have won each of the last three (a good sign for the Oilers). Panthers coach Paul Maurice was asked if Game 7 will define legacies, including his own, given the historical significance of potentially wasting a 3-0 series lead. “I will let you know at the end of it,” Maurice said. Maurice has spent this series hearing questions about winning the Cup (something people try not to talk about until they've actually won the thing), 3-0 leads, the pressure that comes when clinching opportunities were wasted as they were in Game 4, Game 5 and Game 6, and plenty more along those lines. He's a smart guy. He gets why those questions are coming. But when he was sidling over to players for quick chats during practice on Sunday, it wasn't about big-picture ramifications. It was taking the temperature of a team that he still fully believes in, especially going into Game 7. “There's a far bigger contextual story that means nothing to me now, but it means everything to you,” Maurice said. “That’s the stories you have to write. That’s actually what makes this whole thing awesome is the context of it. Nobody ever, ever, has played on a backdoor rink in Canada and scored the Game 3 overtime winner in the qualifying round. It's one game, always, that excites you. And that is the context of this game and we will live in that context.” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov — it'll either be him or Oilers captain Connor McDavid accepting the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Monday night — concurs. Indeed, this is it. Championship or collapse. By Monday night, the Panthers's story will be written. “I was one of those kids for sure that played by himself whenever I was outdoors or at home ... thinking, ‘This is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, maybe even overtime,’" Barkov said. "You think about those moments. I’ve had many of those memories, but now it’s becoming a truth tomorrow for sure. Exciting. The most exciting time to be a hockey player.”
Paul Coffey had Wayne Gretzky on his side in 1984 as the Great One was trying to cement his legacy with a first Stanley Cup to bookend his 200-point seasons and his Hart trophies.
There was heat on 99 to win, just as it’s there today with 97. Gretzky won in his fifth year, and this is Connor McDavid’s ninth. “I don’t know if it’s pressure, it’s just wanting it so bad,” said Coffey, who looks after the defencemen as the Edmonton Oilers's assistant coach. “And nobody wants it more than 97 on our team.” He won’t say that publicly, of course. But, winning a championship for the greats is not always linear. It took Sidney Crosby four years after being draughted No. 1 in Pittsburgh, Gretzky five in Edmonton and Mario Lemieux seven with the Penguins. A good but long time, like Steve Yzerman taking 14 years in Detroit or Alex Ovechkin taking the same in Washington, so lots of “what-ifs” and “will-I-evers” as the years pass. “I still remember when the Islanders beat us four straight (in 1983), and Wayne had 196 points, and we’re leaving our dressing room, and Wayne was so down,” said Coffey. “I said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ He says, ‘I’ll never be like Bryan Trottier or Guy Lafleur until I win a cup.’ It’s not the end-all be-all, but it certainly helps.” What was it like for Coffey to be in the dressing room for a big game knowing Gretzky would do something special? What does it do for a team knowing the best player is on their team? “I think it was in the L.A. series … where Wayne was asked, ‘Do you still get nervous going to the rink?'” Coffey said. “He said, ‘Absolutely, I’m nervous, until I walk in here and I see Connor, then it’s all good. He’s here!” The same thing happened back in the early Oiler days. “Looking back to our early days, we weren’t angels,” Coffey said. “But we always knew if the big guy was in bed by midnight, we had a chance. “That’s the truth, that’s the truth.” It isn’t just another game for McDavid — no Game 7 is. Not when you’re being compared to Gretzky, but he’s sticking with the process line of thought. “This (Game 7) is not your ordinary game,” he said. “Everybody understands that, but you’ve got to make it as ordinary as possible. You have to prepare like you always do, stick to your routine.” But, when asked how it feels to finally be here — one small step for mankind, from a cup after being the first pick in the 2015 draught — he takes a second to answer. “That’s a pretty broad question. What’s it like? Yeah, it’s been a long road to get to this point, it’s been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of lessons along the way, but it takes a lot of them. It really does,” he said. Corey Perry watched McDavid at work in Game 6, on a night when they didn’t need his points, but he saved a goal by Sasha Barkov with his checking. He knows how badly the Oilers captain wants this first cup. Yes, it is part of his legacy. It’s Perry’s 11th Game 7 in his career, but first in the finals, and nobody knows the thin line between winning and losing. Maybe not so much for the greats, who will find a way back, at some time, but maybe not. “You don’t take anything for granted. Half these guys may never be back. As I’ve said, I won one cup when I was 22, and it took me 12 years to get back for another shot. These chances — they don’t come along every day. I haven’t won a second one,” he said. But at least he’s won one. Does he feel McDavid is thinking this is his shot? “I’m not inside his head,” said Perry. “But you have to think that way. This is his chance,” he said. “All the greats have done it. He’s pretty much in that category.” Perry is comforted to know McDavid is on his side, though. As he says, “Everybody grows up wanting to be the hero in a Game 7, and hopefully, it’s in this room and you go down in history as being the hero.” There’s a good chance 97 will be that guy. “He can do more magical things at any point in the game,” said Perry. “Not just this year in the playoffs but throughout his career. It’s not a switch he flips, but all of a sudden, he’s dancing through three or four guys the other night (during Game 5 to set up Perry). We count on him a lot. That’s why he’s the greatest.” But Perry has seen the other side of McDavid as the playoffs have gone on, too. Like Crosby with the Penguins, his willingness to subjugate his offence to check, to do other things that don’t appear on the stats sheet. “Like that play he made on Barkov the other night. His speed does a lot of checking for him. That shift, there’s a turnover off the wall, Barkov has the puck, and Connor’s right there. Pretty much goes into the empty net if Connor doesn’t slash or whatever the call was (hooking),” said Perry.
Nobody on the current Oilers knows what McDavid is going through more than Leon Draisaitl, who was sitting beside 97 at the podium Sunday after practice as one of the top 10 players in the world.
But the eyeballs aren’t on him like they are McDavid. What’s it like having the No. 1 player in the game in an Oilers sweater? “Every game we go into, we know we have the best player in the world on our side,” said Draisaitl. “But the league is really, really hard to just go through one player or two or three. You need a whole team, like in these playoffs with our penalty kill winning us hockey games. But it is a great feeling having the best player in world on our side.” Going into a Game 7 with the best player on the planet, Kris Knoblauch? “Definitely an added bonus,” said the Oilers coach, with a big smile. “Not only having the best player but one who’s playing extremely well right now. Not only do you have the advantage with him on the ice, but it breeds confidence throughout the room. Players are looking around the room and saying, ‘Who’s ready to go, who’s contributing?’ and they see their leader, their best player ready to go. Yes, gives so much confidence to the rest of the group,” said Knoblauch. The NHL championship-deciding contest between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers is just the 18th Game 7 in Stanley Cup final history. Here's all of them.
The biggest possible game in an NHL season has only happened 17 times in league history. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final is when all past results, performances and other context are thrown out the window. It's one final do-or-die game in which one team skates off with the Stanley Cup and a dream come true while the other leaves with the runner-up title and endless thoughts about what could have been. The 18th Game 7 in Cup final history will happen on Monday, June 24, at 8 p.m. ET between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers. With that, here's what happened in every Stanley Cup final Game 7 in NHL history, with snippets from The Hockey News covering 15 of them. June 24, 2024: Edmonton Oilers at Florida Panthers This series is just the third time in NHL history that a team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to force Game 7 in the Stanley Cup final. We'll either see the Edmonton Oilers become the second team ever to pull off the reverse sweep in the Cup final or the Florida Panthers become the second team ever to blow a 3-0 lead and still win. June 12, 2019: St. Louis Blues, 4, at Boston Bruins, 1 The St. Louis Blues trailed the Cup final on two occasions after losing Games 1 and 3, but they tied it each time. The Boston Bruins forced Game 7 with a 5-1 win, but the Blues took full control, scoring four unanswered goals. Captain Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and an assist to cap a Conn Smythe Trophy performance as the Blues won their first Cup in franchise history. O'Reilly revealed afterward he suffered a cracked rib in Round 2. From Vol. 72, Issue 16: Funny how lifting up 35 pounds of silver and nickel alloy high over his head didn’t seem to aggravate it. “I guess all the adrenaline made it feel pretty light,” O’Reilly said. June 15, 2011: Boston Bruins, 4, at Vancouver Canucks, 0 The Boston Bruins initially trailed 2-0 the Vancouver Canucks in the series before tying it up. In the final, with the Canucks having a chance to end Canada's Stanley Cup drought, they outshot the Bruins 37-21. Tim Thomas stopped every shot while Patrice Bergeron potted a goal and an assist about three years after missing most of the 2007-08 season due to concussion symptoms. As for what happened after the game... well... there's a 30 for 30 documentary on it now. From Vol. 65, Issue 1: “I always believed, always believed,” Bergeron said. “I believed in myself and I believed in this team. I wouldn’t be anywhere without this team.” June 12, 2009: Pittsburgh Penguins, 2, at Detroit Red Wings, 1 The Pittsburgh Penguins also trailed the final 2-0 at first, and they responded well from a 5-0 loss in Game 5 to force Game 7. Marc-Andre Fleury's diving save on a shot by Nicklas Lidstrom will live on as one of the greatest saves in NHL history in terms of significance. That was the first of three Cup wins so far for Sidney Crosby and long time team mates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. From Vol. 63, Issue 1: Malkin pointed to a picture of Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr celebrating the Penguins’ 1992 Stanley Cup in the visitor’s dressing room at the old Chicago Stadium. Seventeen years later, Crosby and Malkin are living the dream far earlier than they, or almost anyone else, expected they would. June 19, 2006: Edmonton Oilers, 1, at Carolina Hurricanes, 3 The Oilers faced elimination in Game 5 of this series and won in overtime to drag the Hurricanes back to Edmonton. They then won Game 6 by a 4-0 score to force Game 7. But a power-play goal by Frantisek Kaberle eight seconds after the Oilers took a holding penalty stood as the game-winner as the Carolina Hurricanes won their first Cup in franchise history. From Vol. 59, Issue 37: "We had too many guys that sacrificed their whole careers and weren't going to be denied." - Captain Rod Brind'Amour June 7, 2004: Calgary Flames, 1, at Tampa Bay Lightning, 2 Controversy erupted in Game 6 of the Cup final when it appeared Martin Gelinas had put the Calgary Flames up 3-2 in the third period. But the play continued, and the NHL couldn't stop the play to review the goal as they can now. One angle shows some white ice between the puck and goal line, but the overhead angle that would've had the best look appeared inconclusive. The Lightning scored in double-overtime to force Game 7, which was when Ruslan Fedotenko stole the show and scored twice to capture the Tampa Bay Lightning's first-ever Cup win. That was the last time the Cup was awarded before the 2004-05 lockout. From Vol. 57, Issue 38: At a time when the NHL’s future appears bleak, it was a thrill to see two deserving teams make it to the final. Too bad there was just one trophy. June 9, 2003: Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 0, at New Jersey Devils, 3 Mighty Ducks netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere was so good in the playoffs that he earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP despite losing the final. In Game 7, however, Martin Brodeur stopped all 24 shots he faced as the game-winning goal from call-up Mike Rupp sealed the deal for the New Jersey Devils. From Vol. 56, Issue 38: Minutes after the game ends, Stanley Cup-winning goal-scorer Michael Rupp is asked a perfectly logical question: Who are you? “Well, I’ve been in the organisation; this is my third year,” says the 6-foot-5, 235-pound left winger, who adds two assists in the Devils’ third 3-0 home victory of the series. June 9, 2001: New Jersey Devils, 1, at Colorado Avalanche, 3 The Colorado Avalanche led the series on two separate occasions but faced elimination in Game 6. They forced Game 7 with a 4-0 win, and Alex Tanguay factored in on all three Avalanche goals to win 3-1. "And after 22 years, Raymond Bourque!" From Volume 54, Issue 38: “I couldn’t breathe the last 30 seconds of the game,” Bourque said, ”and it wasn’t because I was tired. I was trying to hold off the tears, the emotions…I had to stay focused. I had tears in my eyes on the bench a few times. Lifting the Cup, what a feeling.” June 14, 1994: Vancouver Canucks, 2, at New York Rangers, 3 One round before the Cup final, Mark Messier guaranteed the New York Rangers would win Game 6 against the Devils, which they did, followed by Game 7 on a double-overtime winner by Stephane Matteau. The Rangers then had a 3-1 lead in the final before the Canucks came back to tie it. In the rubber match, Messier, Adam Graves and Sergei Zubov each recorded two points to end the Rangers' 54-year Stanley Cup drought. From Vol. 47, Issue 37: There would be no more running from the Cup curse. (Rangers coach Mike Keenan) wanted his players to feed off 1940, not fear it. May 31, 1987: Philadelphia Flyers, 1, at Edmonton Oilers, 3 A Stanley Cup final between the top two teams in the regular season came down to Game 7. The series was a rematch of the 1985 Cup final, which the Oilers won in five games. It was the first time the final required a Game 7 in 16 years, the longest gap on this list. The Flyers trailed 3-1 in the series before winning twice and scoring first in the decider. But the Oilers won 3-1 on goals by Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson to win their third Cup in four years. From Vol. 40, Issue 36: The Oilers are no longer imprisoned by the memory of their stunning loss to Calgary in the division finals last year. They freed themselves May 31 with a complete, and convincing, 3-1 win over the stubborn Philadelphia Flyers in a Stanley Cup final series pushed to its outer limits. May 18, 1971: Montreal Canadiens, 3, at Chicago Black Hawks, 2 Game 7 marked the final game of Jean Beliveau's 20-year career as rookie goaltender Ken Dryden was just kicking off his. Chicago won two straight before Montreal tied it, and they traded Games 5 and 6 for it to come down to Game 7. Chicago then led 2-0 in the game until Henri Richard scored the tying and winning goals to win the Canadiens their fifth championship in seven seasons. From Vol. 24, Issue 32: Winning the Stanley Cup in the confines of your own rink is the thing to do, but the Montreal Canadiens don't believe in picking their spots. The Canadiens climaxed one of their most dramatic cup victories in the club's history by winning the playoff championship on the road. May 1, 1965: Chicago Black Hawks, 0, at Montreal Canadiens, 4 Beliveau had 16 points in 13 playoff games, including 10 in the Cup final, to be voted the first-ever winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy. He scored the opening goal of Game 7, which held up as the Cup-clincher as Gump Worsley stopped all 20 shots for the win. From Vol. 18, Issue 31: It’s difficult to remember a time when the noise in the Forum was more deafening…or when more bugles, whistles and assorted noise makers were in evidence. April 25, 1964: Detroit Red Wings, 0, at Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 Get ready to read about the Red Wings for the rest of this list. The first six Cup final games to require a Game 7 all featured Detroit. They also needed seven games to beat the Black Hawks in the semi-final, as did the Toronto Maple Leafs with the Canadiens. Each team alternated wins in the final until Games 6 and 7 when the Leafs won two straight. Johnny Bower recorded the 33-save shut out to earn the Leafs their third straight Stanley Cup. From Vol. 17, Issue 31: The Leafs’s room was as crowded as the CNE midway on Labour Day Weekend. Everyone and their friends were attempting to squeeze into the enclosure where the players were kicking up their heels, sipping champagne, lighting big cigars and playfully tossing club officials and members of the press into the steaming showers. April 14, 1955: Montreal Canadiens, 1, at Detroit Red Wings, 3 The Canadiens competed in the playoffs without star forward Maurice 'Rocket' Richard after he was suspended for breaking his stick over an opponent's back and then hitting a linesman, which led to the 'Richard Riot' in Montreal. Detroit won Games 1, 2 and 5 while Montreal won Games 2, 4 and 6 leading up to Game 7. Alex Delvecchio scored twice, while Gordie Howe also got a goal to win the Cup final rematch for the Red Wings. From Vol. 8, Issue 30: Bedlam reigned supreme in the Detroit dressing room following their second straight Stanley Cup triumph over the Montreal Canadiens. It was a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire series and the Wings were visibly dog-tired but happy that it was finally over — and in their favour. April 16, 1954: Montreal Canadiens, 1, at Detroit Red Wings, 2 (OT) After blowing a 3-1 series lead, the Red Wings trailed nine minutes into Game 7. Red Kelly tied the contest on the power play in the second period, and the score remained deadlocked heading into overtime. Tony Leswick scored the golden goal to win it all for Detroit. That was the last time Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final needed overtime. From Vol. 7, Issue 30: (NHL president Clarence Campbell) said it was one of the best-played series in Cup history, a credit to both clubs involved. There was a wild demonstration by the record Olympia crowd of 15,791 after the game, and the presentation was a hilarious affair that lasted far into the night. April 23, 1950: New York Rangers, 3, at Detroit Red Wings, 4 (2OT) The Red Wings played without Howe after he suffered a head injury in the first game of the playoffs against the Maple Leafs. They required overtime in Game 7 of the semi-final, which they won 1-0, and they required two overtime periods in Game 7 of the Cup final. Pete Babando scored the decider in the highest-scoring Game 7 in Cup final history. From Volume 3, Issue 30: Never before in the history of the 57-year-old trophy has a deciding Stanley Cup final possessed the drama, excitement and thrills that came with the Wings’ 4-3 overtime win over the New York Rangers. April 22, 1945: Toronto Maple Leafs, 2, at Detroit Red Wings, 1 Seventy-nine years before the Oilers came back down from 3-0 in the Stanley Cup final to force Game 7 against the Panthers, the Red Wings were the last team to pull off the feat. After being shut out three straight times by Toronto, they won 5-3, 2-0 and 1-0 in overtime to bring the series to a seventh match. The Leafs led 1-0 heading into the third period before Murray Armstrong tied it, but Babe Pratt scored on the power-play as Toronto avoided the reverse sweep. April 18, 1942: Detroit Red Wings, 1, at Toronto Maple Leafs, 3 Detroit did not avoid the reverse sweep. The first Game 7 in Stanley Cup final history was a result of the Red Wings winning the first three games before losing 4-3, 9-3 and 3-0 to the Maple Leafs. Syd Howe gave Detroit a lead early in the second period, but the Leafs took over in the third. Sweeney Schriner scored two of three third-period goals for the Maple Leafs as they completed the memorable comeback. Lance Hornby TORONTO SCUM Their names are usually invoked only in playoff desperation.
Yet the perfect mix of Hall of Famers and hard workers who were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs are in the news again. While all Stanley Cup winners assure each other they’ll ‘walk together forever.’ this bunch — including Sweeney Schriner, Wally Stanowski, Bingo Kampman, Pete Langelle and the more-recognised Syl Apps, Turk Broda and coach Hap Day — stand a bit taller as the only team in pro sports to rally from an 0-3 hole in a championship best-of-seven series. “They came out of the series the fighting-est bunch in the history of hockey,” Day said of his players at the team victory banquet at the Royal York Hotel. The latest club bidding to join them is also Canadian: The no-quit Edmonton Oilers. Eighty-two years after Toronto stunned the Detroit Red Wings, as Postmedia’s Rob Tychkowski wrote Tuesday night in the Game 5 euphoria, Edmonton is halfway to the impossible. NHL teams have come back from deficits of 0-3 before — the 1975 New York Islanders over Pittsburgh, the 2010 Flyers against Boston and, the most recent, Los Angeles over San Jose a decade ago. An Isles fan hung a homemade sign reading “Remember the ‘42 Leafs” through their ‘75 playoffs when nine times New York won elimination games, beating the Rangers in a best-of-three preliminary and almost erasing 0-3 against the Flyers before losing Game 7. But none of those Lazerus-like revivals were on the big stage with the Cup constantly in the house but getting packed up again. After Tuesday, the Oilers joined the 1945 Wings and 2012 New Jersey Devils as the only teams to force at least a Game 6 in the final — Friday in front of their increasingly confident and intimidating fan base at the Rogers Place. But as with the Oilers and ‘42 Leafs, every great comeback has to start in a grave. That’s where the Leafs were knee-pad deep in April of ‘42, losing 3-2 and 4-2 at home then 5-2 in Game 3 at the Detroit Olympia. The Wings were killing Toronto with an effective dump-and-chase style. “Detroit had us buffaloed,” Day told writer Stan Fischler years later, part of Eric Zweig’s excellent book, Maple Leafs, The Complete Oral History. Day and manager Conn Smythe resorted to some tactical and motivational magic. Day ruffled feathers before Game 4 with controversial line up changes, including benching Gordie Drillon (who remains the last Leaf to win a scoring points title) and fellow forward Bucko McDonald, opting for healthy scratches Don Metz, Hank Goldup and inserted defenceman Bob Goldham, later a Hockey Night In Canada analyst. It remains in dispute whether Day and Smythe had heeded advice from Schriner to change tactics when they called the forward to their hotel breakfast table on the morning of Game 4. One of the team’s directors planted a story with Detroit reporters calling out the Leafs for gold-bricking, knowing it would add to Wings’s over confidence. In the dressing room before the game, Day is reputed to have read a letter from a teenaged girl, a Leafs fan getting mercilessly teased at school by Detroit supporters, but urging her team not to fold. Schriner is said to have leaped to his feet hearing her words and shouted at Day “tell that kid not to worry,” before getting an assist in the 4-3 season-saving win. Just like that, momentum shifted. In a as the Leafs began firing the puck right back out to elude Detroit forecheckers. Detroit manager Jack Adams took out post-game frustrations on referee Mel Harwood and was booted from the series, while two other Wings were fined. Someone at the Olympia made another huge mistake, jumping the gun on a large floral display to congratulate the pending Cup champions that was in full view of the Leafs arriving at the rink. The Wings had the lead twice in the final four games and couldn’t hold, as Toronto won back at home 9-3 and rode a 3-0 Broda shutout back in Detroit. “I know they talked about taking my dad out (after Game 3),” Broda’s daughter, Barb Tushingham, told the Toronto Sun last year. “Conn said ‘no, I brought him in, he stays.’ “I remember dad saying ‘you have to (hang) in there and just play with heart. Dad didn’t have a goalie coach, didn’t wear a mask and, at the end of every year, had lost his toenails, a couple of teeth and had a black eye.” His shutout set up Game 7 in front of what would be the largest crowd to watch a hockey game at the time — 16,218 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Radio legend Foster Hewitt’s excitement level also rose with each win and big Toronto goal. The Leafs hadn’t won a Cup since their inaugural season on Carlton Street 10 years earlier and, at a gloomy juncture of World War II with bad news on most battlefronts, their rally against the Wings lifted spirits in English Canada on either side of the Quebec border. Calls flooded the Gardens switchboard to wish the team luck or try and secure a ticket. “I couldn’t get a line out to my wife to save my husbandly neck,” Smythe’s assistant, Frank Selke, quipped to a reporter. Yet it was a nail-biter, the Leafs trailed 1-0 after two periods. Smythe, who was training his artillery regiment and unable to attend all the games, barged into the dressing room meaning to shake up his troops, but the laconic Schriner assured him the Leafs would prevail and tied the game himself against Detroit goalie Johnny Mowers. “A blind shot,” Schriner said after the game. “I didn’t know I’d scored until I heard the crowd shouting, then saw the (goal) light go on. It was the biggest light I ever saw in my life.” Langelle would get the eventual winner with Schriner adding another for insurance. “I’ll never forget the last minute of the game, skating around with a two-goal lead and the knowledge Detroit couldn’t win it,” Apps told Fischler. Presented with the Cup, which was then cylindrical with the bowl on top and nicknamed ‘the elephant’s leg,’ captain Apps immediately called Smythe to hold it, telling him “you’ve waited long enough, come and get it.” The time and technology of the era, a decade before Hockey Night in Canada televised the Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, means few visuals survive of the ‘42 team. Langelle and team mates with sticks raised after his goal and the crowd reacting does rank as one of the great black-and -white sports photos of the era. Stanowski was the last survivor of the ‘42 team, lasting until age 96 in 2015. “There wasn’t very much money when I signed,” he said in an earlier interview with the Sun. “I made about $1,500 in Syracuse and about $3,000 with the Leafs (in 1939, with $30 deducted for his team sweater). But it didn’t make any difference, I just wanted to play.” The ‘Whirling Dervish’ was one of the few defenders to rush the puck in his day, but ran afoul of the strict Smythe for sleeping at home with his own wife at training camp. Stanowski craftily orchestrated a newspaper story critical of Smythe he knew would enrage the boss enough to trade him to the Rangers. The Wings shook off blowing the 0-3 lead to win the Cup a year later, beating the Leafs in six along the way. But there was no escaping their role of ignominy. “Someone had to lose that series,” Detroit defenceman Jimmy Orlando said. “We just happened to be the unlucky ones.” |
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