JR Ewing

Kinda like when Sean Avery got Ladislav Smid with a cheapshot: It was absolutely a cheap move by Avery, but Smid should have been ready for it. Lesson learned, I suppose. JR

Between suffering from serious brain injuries and being completely whacked out by drugs, Boogaard must not have know if he was coming or going. One thing is certain here: there are three groups who should be ashamed of the way they dealt with Boogaard: -The Wild -The Rangers -The NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program Nobody involved did enough to help him: from the Wild and Ranger, who happily fed him with a constant supply of highly addictive meds, nor the SABH program, which happily ignored 6 failed drug tests. Thanks for the links, hf. JR

Many of the same things could be said about Domi, and I wouldn't want somebody to crush him in the face with a cheapshot either. JR

Yes, it was a complete horse crap move on Domi's part. I think that plenty of people who didn't like Samuelsson would agree with that. For what it's worth, Domi is a guy who could very easily go on this list, too. http://youtu.be/cPbN72u4hxs?t=1m18s Tie Domi: putting the "ass" in class... JR

When I think of Stu Grimson, three things come to mind: a] The night Grimson completely lost it... Bryan Marchment could bring that out in guys, mind you. b] 24-year old Stu Grimson was playing in his second career NHL game for the Flames when he fought Dave Brown in the first half of a home-at-home. Brown had fresh stitches above his left eye after being hit by a puck in a game a couple of days before, and Grimson opened the cut during the fight, which was pretty close. Grimson felt pretty good about his fight, and after the game he talked about how he'd put a beating on Brown, etc, etc. Early on in the 1st period of the rematch, Brown had his chance for revenge, and he was absolutely merciless. It was a pretty devestating fight for Grimson. He ended up with a fractured orbital bone, and didn't play another NHL game for the rest of the year. Naturally, after Brown got out of the box, he immediately chirped after Joel Otto... c] Stu Grimson is an intelligent man, and did something with his life after hockey. He's now a lawyer, working for a lawfirm in Nashville. JR

Hey, the Oilers gave a 3-year extension to Steve Tambellini one year before they canned. And that's with a blow-dacious resume. JR

There's nothing a therapist can do to "bring back" the game of a goalie who's never had a great save percentage. JR

Here's what I get from Gamecenter at 3000 kbps: This is what I get on my PC, though I can't say what it's like on any media streaming devices. I know that none of thus remotely do the all-around job a computer, now would I opt for one for my primary TV, but I would imagine the streaming quality is the same.... I guess. JR

Because everybody knows that the only thing better than internet porn is internet porn on a large screen. JR

Pretty much the exact same story here, except I opted to turn my gaming PC into the "TV experience". Pretty much do everything on it now, including about 75% of my web browsing. JR

Yeah, I don't really know what Quinn's problem was with Bure, but it started before the kid was even in North America. You'd think a smart guy, even if he didn't like the player, could get over himself for the betterment of the team, because Bure was so amazing. But, noooooo. He just couldn't or wouldn't. JR

I don't see the rush, let him manage the team for at least an entire season before you back up a truck to his house. btw, anybody else find it funny that in 2013, TSN named him the NHL's worst GM and Sports Illustrated named him the league's best? JR

And that's just it. I heard Gillis talking about how they weren't just to give him away, and I thought "What, a team has to give you a quality piece AND take your cap troubles?" It's not going to happen. Dealing players is like selling a house: anything can be sold as long as it's at the right price. If it sits on the market for a long time, you can be sure the asking price was just too high. JR

Jeez, Craig MacTavish was able to get a player AND a pick for Shawn Horcoff, and he didn't have to cover any salary. Two separate deals. of course, but Grabovski's in the prime of his career, and Horcoff has tons of miles on him. JR

By the time Quinn came to be Oilers Head Coach, the game had left him behind very badly. Even for a rebuilding team, the season was a train wreck. JR

This is Mark Douglas Messier. I know... Everybody knows that, but it's what I do. Messier was a marvelous hockey player. He retired 2nd all-time in points, 7th in goals, 3rd in assists, and but for the 1994-95 lockout he'd have retired the all-time leader in Games Played, instead settling for 2nd, 11 behind Gordie Howe. He was a 5 time Cup champion, and is the only player to captain two different teams to Cup wins. He's considered by many to be one of the greatest leaders in NHL history. And he was dirty. A wild young man who cut a wide swath of partying, particularly during his period in Edmonton, where stories from old cab drivers are legendary. Was sent down to the AHL Houston Appollos by Glen Sather early on in 1979-80 season after he missed a flight. Sather figured that some time riding the buses and hauling his own bags around would straighten him out, but Messier didn't miss a beat. He ended up partying even more than he did in Edmonton, so Sather recalled him, figuring he could at least keep an eye on him back home. Messier probably threw more elbows than Randy Savage, and was a fine practitioner of the blindside hit to the head. He just didn't care. There's piles of these clips on youtube, but I'll just go with one for now: Nice to see that Modano received the best care available... Messier was suspended for 10 games for injuring Jame Macoun, but if he played today, he'd be on suspension nearly constantly. JR

Sounds nice, though I'm not in the market. When I decided to drop cable years back, I just connected my PC to my computer, and didn't mess with any of those products. They're nice (we have a WD Media Player downstairs for the kids, so they can watch Netflix, youtube, etc) but lacked the all-around functionality of a computer. Plus, I can do all of my PC gaming on the main TV, too. Seems like an endless stream of devices have come out which turn any TV into a Smart TV. JR

LOL! That's awesome... Hospodar had company; pretty much everybody hated Hunter. Makes me think of Earl "Oil" Smith, who broke in as a catcher with the New York Giants in the 1920s. Very tough guy, didn't back down from anybody, and would fight for the smallest of reasons. One time in Pittsburgh, Dave Bancroft was arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire, when Smith stood up and flattened Bancroft with a massive sucker punch; no warning, he just dropped him like a bad habit. The umpire yelled at Smith, asking what the hell THAT was about, and Smith told him he just didn't like Bancroft. Also: -The only player I've ever heard about being in trouble with his team for having a pair of handcuffs being found in his luggage. -Smith once locked a team trainer in his hotel room closet and told his teammates to go have fun and do what they like; there'd be no bed checks that night. JR

Bure received crap treatment from Vancouver management (well, Pat Quinn really) and the media from day number one, and their relationship never really got any better. Thankfully, they were able to work their way past that (doesn't hurt that Gillis was Bure's agent back in the day) and I think it's good that the best player in the franchise's history will have his number retired. Looking over the team's history with Bure never fails to amaze me. -Bure had to pay his own way to North America, and was left hanging for two weeks in Los Angeles, with no word from the team of what was going to do with him or if he was even going to be flown to Vancouver. The club later said it was because they didn't know if they wanted to sign him. Then why make the kid shell out money for a flight in the first place? -The Canucks forced Bure to pay his transfer fee of $50,000 from his own money. Try to picture that one happening today. -Even after this, the Canucks squeezed Bure on his initial contract. Ok, teams had all of the leverage back then, but their argument was that he hadn't proved he was worth more money, even after back-to-back 60 goal seasons. Really quick way to alienate a player. At this point, Bure and the Canucks had been at contract negotiations for 17 months, and he'd had enough: asked for a trade, which Pat Quinn refused to do. -It's very likely that the rumour which stated that Bure was going to hold out in the '94 Finals was spread through the media by the Canucks themselves. Once something like that is out in the public, there's very little that can be done to stop it. -Bure and Quinn were finally able to come to a verbal agreement on a contract, but when it came to sign the deal, Bure's agent found that Quinn had quietly made it in Canadian and not US funds, as all players signed (and continue to sign) for. This would have resulted in Bure getting only 70 cents on the dollar compared to what he agreed to. They were able to work their way past this, though not without hard feelings. Quinn refused to shake Bure's hand. -Bure's contract stated that he would receive a signing bonus three months after signing and, in the event of a lockout (which, of course happened in the 1994-95 season), he would still receive his salary. Once signed, the Canucks then refused to make good on any of these promises, and it took Bure almost 4 years to get the money which was agreed upon. In the end, the Canucks only paid $1M of the $1.7M signing bonus. -This caused extreme tension between Bure and the Canucks, which, handily enough for the Canucks, happened right at the same time as a wave of anti-Bure news pieces hit the papers, written by guys like Tony Gallagher (who'd been repeatedly writing false stories since the fictional "Bure will hold out during the Finals!" days of 1994. He was talked about as being a cold fish, friendless on the team other than Gino Odjick, and (for some strange reason) not being very enamored the Canucks organization. JR

Happy to hear it was enjoyed. When you see a story like his in as close as it can be to its entirety (because I agree 100% that we don't know the half of it) I can't help but come to the conclusion that he's honestly and actually mentally ill. Gaetz is the John Beckwith (N e g r o League player from the 20s and 30s) of the NHL. Do yourself a favor: look up Beckwith.'s history. Money is all I can guess it is. If you have any sort of a name, some of these minor league teams will sign you on. In the case of the Quebec Senior League, it's basically a goon outfit, so a player like him has some clout. But, as ever, Gaetz was always way more trouble than he was worth. JR

I've always had the exact same thought about '84 Olympics and the astounding amount of self-congratulatory media worship which came from it. Fine, they won gold medals and all, but most of the best competition were in their home countries, watching on TV. JR

Missed this the other day... Anyway, I'd never try to convince you to like the tourney. I find it perfectly acceptable that, to the extent that I enjoy the Olympic hockey tournament, others don't. JR

I think this is just one of those situations where the Oilers saw an opportunity to turn one player into a better one; one who would ordinarily be a lot more expensive to acquire. I agree that they have bigger issues (centre depth, lack of top end defenseman) but it's always good to get better. Turned a 3LW into a true 2LW (something they didn't have). Pretty good. JR

Ohhhhh. I had no idea, Joe. JR

LOL! He was one of the guys I had in mind from the outset of this thread, but wanted to get through some guys who are maybe not so well (or at all) known by most fans, like Hall and Cleghorn. And yeah, when I wrote it, I was tempted to say something about being surprised. Even in 1992 (I think...) he was in a serious drunken car accident, and suffered severe injury. I'm willing to guess that between the drinking and the brain injuries he must have, he'll die young. I don't that with enthusiam, just as a matter of (likely) fact. JR