JR Ewing

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

Oh, that second video.... Kelly Buchberger had NO business fighting a guy in Gaetz's weight class. Always gave Buchberger credit for bravery, but that was just stupid. Gaetz beat the dog **** out of him. JR

Yeah, it was one of the cheapest cheapshots I've seen (Lemieux running Kris Draper's face into the dasher is up there, too). JR

This is Link Gaetz and, oh man, this is going to be a long post. DISCLAIMER - It's almost impossible to tell his full story, so I'm sure others here will have a story I either forgot to mentionr or didn't know about. -Gaetz showed up for the 1988 draft with a pair of black eyes from a bar fight he'd had against four men the night before. Minnesota GM, Lou Nanne, later said that he should drafted a lawyer with his third pick. Legend has it that Gaetz brough two cases of beer to the draft, but nobody knows for sure. -One of his favorite things to do was intercept team mail in the management office. He would open any letter addressed to a rookie, and if there was cash in it from back home, he'd steal it. -Once stole his roommate's TV, then trashed the room and took a whizz on the other guy's bed. Arrested and spent three days in jail. -While playing in the ECHL in 1993, Gaetz decided to take the opposing team's net during warmups. According to Wheeling Thunderbirds head coach Jim Bermingham “This guy Link Gaetz was a monster man, and crazy. I remember him skating down into our end during warm-up while we were taking shots on goal and just taking our net and pushing it down the ice back down to his end!!” Nobody retrieved the net and Bermingham had his goalie take shots in the crease. -While playing for the Nashville Knights, he was driving to a party one night. The car in front of him tried to go through the gate slowly so Gaetz couldn't follow him, and this caused Gaetz to seriously lose it. Rammed the car from behind, beat the holy hell out of the other driver and casually walked into the party. The cops ended up being called, and he had to spend the night in jail after coach Nick Fotiu refused to bail him out. Gaetz was apparently still hot, because when he was released the next morning, he went straight over to the Knights practice facility and sucker punched Fotiu. The team cut Gaetz immediately. -By 1994, Gaetz went too far for the Sharks liking, and he was traded to Edmonton. Dean Lombardi just didn't know what to do with him anymore. Gaetz had held a group of his teammates hostage at a party, terrorizing anybody that attempted to leave. Fotiu was called again, and he came to break it up. "I said, 'C'mon, Link, let's call it a night,' " Fotiu says. "So I grabbed the bottle out of his hand, and Link blew. We went toe-to-toe in the living room. Tumbling over couches, the whole bit. Finally, the cops showed and took him away. Five in the morning, he comes over to my house and wants to fight. I say no. Eight o'clock, he comes back. He wants to go to breakfast." -Later that year, he moved on to that hockey hotbed of Mexico City, playing for the Toreros of the NAL. Instigated a full brawl which finally ended with the opposing goalie spearing Gaetz in the forehead. The first shift of the next game, Gaetz was thrown out after pulling another guy's hair, and decdied that getting loaded was the right thing to do. The night ended with him and some teammates going to Denny's, where he terrified the waitress and ran into the kitchen and began flipping burgers. The police were called and he spent the night in jail. The team cut him the next day. -Also in 1994, Gaetz played 8 games for the Sacremento River Rats in Roller Hockey International. He was thrown off the team after he beat the snot out of a team trainer. -In 1995, Gaetz was cooling his heel after fighting Sasha Lakovic, and decided he wasn't done yet. He climbed the glass and fought Lakovic some more in the other penalty box. Suspended. Later that year, Gaetz broke Frank LaScala's arm with a viscous two-hander. He was suspended for the remainder of the year. -In 1997, Gaetz was playing for Madison in the United League, and his coach, Dave Schultz, couldn't stand him. Gaetz constantly showed up at the rink drunk and in no condition to play. Was thrown out of the league after initiating a stick swinging incident from his own bench. Schultz must have been glad to be rid of him. -In 1998, the Anchorage Aces, over in the WCHL, wanted him to play, but the league made them pay a $40,000 bond before he could join up, payable if he caused any problems... Didn't take long. Eleven games into the season, he beat the crap out of another guy and then wouldn't stop, even while the player was laying on the ice. The ref and the linesmen had to tear him off and when they did that, Gaetz bit the ref on the league. Gaetz was gone and so was Anchorage's $40,000. -He moved on to the Toledo Storm in the ECHL. He showed completely out of shape physically and mentally, and got rid of him after only 1 game. -In 1999, while playing for Huntsville, Gaetz was arrested for public intoxication and resisting arrest, after brawling with the cops. His bail was set at $10,000 but bumped up after he said "Why don't you make it $100,000, bitch?" to Judge Barbara Hale. She reduced it $5,000 after the weekend was over. -Later in '99, Gaetz moved on the bustling metropolis of Eston (population: 1,031) to play for the Ramblers in the (get this) Saskatchewan Wild Goose League. In his first shift he recorded 68 PIM, a record in that league and probably just about any other. He was later thrown off the team, and legend has it that no bar owner in the area will allow him back in their business. In his time in Eston, he played 11 games, with no points and 112 PIM. -After playing a handful games in the fighters' paradise of the Quebec Senior League, Gaetz was signed in 2005 to his final pro contract, with the Thetford Mines. He dressed for one final time , wasn't getting any ice time, so Gaetz said "To hell with it" and left during the second intermission to eat a hamburger from the concession stand. He was suspended for the rest of the season, and that ended his pro career. -Summer 2005: "Battle of the Hockey Enforcers". Promoter Darryl Wolski put together a show which would feature nothing but goons going at it, and he was able to get Gaetz to sign on. He had one fight and then withdrew due to concussion-like symptoms. JR

@Dynamo 47 Dale Hunter was another I was going to mention, if for no other reason than the disgusting and dirty hit on Pierre Turgeon twenty years ago. JR

This has been measured, actually: that puck possession period after winning a draw is about ten seconds. After that, the frequency of shots and scoring chances is right back to what it is the rest of the game. This matches up well with we see in the overall numbers: no correlation between faceoff percentages and things like GF and GA (which have direct linear relationship with winning). Some teams that score a lot with a lot of their faceoffs, and other teams which score a lot don't. Where faceoff have their moments are in those high leverage situations which fishbulb described: key moments in the game, late while protecting a lead or trying to get it back. I think only a fool would suggest that having a good faceoff man in unimportant at those times. JR

Heh. No, but I can see how you're getting that idea. He's not a perfect player by any means, but he's a good, young 2C. The Bruins were a very good faceoff team this year. The Blackhawks, though, were quite normal. The average team won 1430 faceoffs in 2013, the Hawks won 1436, 0.8 points above average. There IS big picture stuff which shows no correlation between faceoff ability and things like Wins, GF, GA, PP%, PK%, but that's fine. I agree, which is why I suggested earlier that Gagner is a poor candidate to take those draws. Taking tough draws would be part of the reason that MacTavish signed Boyd Godron: http://stats.tabita.org/faceoffs/player/boyd_gordon Please don't take me too literally, here: I didn't say that faceoffs have no importance, I said that they're over-emphasized, generally speaking. The data DOES show that the frequency of shots against rises after a defensive zone faceoff loss. I agree that a scenario like the one you mention isn't one of those situations, and it calls for a quality faceoff man. I would never suggest otherwise, because all other things being equal, I'll take the guy who can win them. JR

My favorite part was the diamond hard slab of gum in each pack. JR

The PP increase makes perfect sense: it happens league-wide. The PP team has an extra player to help win the draw. That being said, I don't know if the author is splitting up ES offensive zone faceoffs and PP faceoffs. If not, the advantage from PP faceoffs would distort those ES draws and create a statistical illusion. However, as I said, I don't know how if he's splitting them up. I wouldn't mind seeing Gagner's FO% go up, but faceoffs aren't hugest deal in the world anyway, and are over-emphasised, generally speaking. Statistically speaking, a player needs to win about 76 more faceoffs than he loses in order to create a goal differential of 1, and a team going from 50% to 60% in the dot would gain about 12 goals, or 2 wins. That being said, I'd rather win a faceoff than lose one. Given Gagner's history on draws, I would use him primarily in offensive zone faaceoffs situations and PP when I get the chance, sheltering him from as many DZ faceoffs as possible. I'd be stunned if Eakins ends up using him very differently. JR

@flyercanuck LOL! I just had to go with Linseman's O-Cheap-e hockey card. JR

@ruxpin I only watch the hockey tournament. That is it. JR

This is Ken Linseman. "The Rat". He was one of, if not the most hated and obnoxious playes of the 1980s, and did his part to otherwise make the NHL look like a bit of a joke. While playing for the Kingston Canadians, he was convicted of assault after kicking a downed opponent in the head with his skate. During his time in the NHL, he gouged Petr Svoboda in the eye during a fight, speared Iain Duncan in the nuts and then spit on him, and blazed a nightly trail of elbows, knees, low hits, cross checks and high sticks. Master of the retaliatory penalty. If there was a record kept of guys who started crap their teammates had to finish, Linseman would be the runaway leader. And the thing is: he could play. Terrific speed, strong skater, 807 points in 860 games. Yes, it was the 80s, but that's till extremely solid for that time. See also: Tikkanen, Esa JR

Quite right, and this year he's going to go from centering Hall and Eberle while Hopkins is hurt, and then move down to a hyper-sheltered line with Perron and Yakupov. Lots of PP minutes the entire time. Even if he was a 3C playing up, you know the points are going to come because by virtue of the talent he's playing with. Wing, centre, whatever? I suppose we're in agree to disagree here, but if Gagner is dealt for a defenseman, they don't have anybody to play his minutes. It's not as simple as saying to a winger "Hey, I know you haven't played centre since you were 12, but do you want to give it a shot here against NHL players?" If Sam Gagner is gone, the Oilers only have 2 NHL centres. Speaking as a fan that's spent 20 years watching his team trade players without a suitable replacement, it's just lousy management to do it. It may be the right time to deal him then. Maybe they'll have more than two other centres who can play NHL minutes. That would be a good thing; that would place the team in a position where they can consider a trade. Until that time, by signing this deal, they've avoided negotiations with the NHL's youngest UFA ever, who would fetch a much higher price than $4.8M. Dollar values on contracts aren't signed in a bubble. The player's age, development, the CBA, other players... All of those things come into play, and Gagner held some very nice cards here, and gets paid a bit more than usual for what you'd see. Under these circumstances, the contract is good for Edmonton. Otherwise, the arbitrator probably settled for about $500,000 less (in between the Oilers pitch and Gagner's) and he walks away for nothing the year after. JR

@jammer2 You're talking about this night: The kid's a beauty. JR