Biggest jerks in the NHL

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The Shadow

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Feb 9, 2013
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We’ve all heard the same stories of Keenan, Babcock and even Scotty Bowman. But what are some less known examples of guys being less than friendly or just being bad people.

Some guys like Taylor Hall that have been moved around do have alot of chatter online of character issues or just having big egos.

Let’s keep it hockey related


Some of the biggest jerk moments specifically:
- Babcock benching Chelios in the outdoor game and making Modano a healthy scratch for game 1500

Let’s hear them especially older stories that maybe have not gotten as much chatter
 
Canucks owners allowing Mark Messier to wear #11 without notifying Wayne Maki's family– the number was taken out of circulation following Maki's death.

I don't know if this qualifies. Messier has had a bit of a reputation for being a dick, but it was probably the Canucks' owners who are more at fault here.
 
Lou Lamariello. Real son of a bitch to deal with even in the glory days. More or less ran Scott Niedermayer and Zach Parise out of town because of his hardball negotiation tactics. Also, he has a very itchy trigger finger.

When he won Cups, we lived with it. But that luster is long gone. Now he's the Islanders' problem, and for their sake hopefully not for long.

And I know the OP said "keep it to hockey" but I'm still including Mikey McLeod because he did what he did during the 2018 WJC.
 
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Canucks owners allowing Mark Messier to wear #11 without notifying Wayne Maki's family– the number was taken out of circulation following Maki's death.

I don't know if this qualifies. Messier has had a bit of a reputation for being a dick, but it was probably the Canucks' owners who are more at fault here.
Mess, the owner, and Brian Burke screwed up there with Maki's number.
Three forgettable years in Messiers otherwise historic career.
 
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Scotty Bowman as Coach/GM in Buffalo.

Had to give permission for any of the guys on the team to be interviewed.

Once pulled his goalie with over 6 minutes left in a game because he wanted to embarrass them. Similarly, he pulled Tom Barrasso from a game against the Wings and after giving up an ENG, told Barrasso to stay on the bench rather than go in - which Barrasso rightly took personally - and gave up two more ENGs rather than let Barrasso finish the game.

The lawsuit from Rick Martin over forcing Rick to play with a bad knee that ended his career. It's that he was complicit in it - Martin settled out of court for $2 million.

Trading any player who he had beef with, often as far away as possible. Trading Larry Playfair to LA was a direct result of Larry telling Bowman he didn't want to fight any more after Playfair broke open one of the Sutter twin's faces in a game. McKegney traded to Quebec was another, Martin to LA. Dealing two captains (Gare and Schoenfeld) to the Wings where Schoeny said "I have nothing good to say about that man" on the way out of town. Gare had similar comments.

His feud with Real Cloutier that put Cloutier into the IHL and retirement - the talk at the time was he was still mad Cloutier had refused to play for him in Montreal and went to the WHA instead.

Having a direct line installed to the bench so in game he could call down to the HC and meddle in what was going on during home games when he was officially just the GM.

He had a moment where he called ever player on the team into a meeting one at a time to ask them if they had called a reporter to let the reporter know that Dave Andreychuk's supposed fall down some stairs that resulted in him missing the playoffs with a broken collar bone was due to Andy actually f***ing around on an ATV. He made every player come in to his office with the reporter there.

Made him so miserable that Perreault said he retired rather than play for him.

Yeah, great coach and an excellent eye for talent in personnel roles, but with control his ego was rampant and he lashed out like a child at anyone who he felt wronged him.
 
Scotty Bowman as Coach/GM in Buffalo.

Had to give permission for any of the guys on the team to be interviewed.

Once pulled his goalie with over 6 minutes left in a game because he wanted to embarrass them. Similarly, he pulled Tom Barrasso from a game against the Wings and after giving up an ENG, told Barrasso to stay on the bench rather than go in - which Barrasso rightly took personally - and gave up two more ENGs rather than let Barrasso finish the game.

The lawsuit from Rick Martin over forcing Rick to play with a bad knee that ended his career. It's that he was complicit in it - Martin settled out of court for $2 million.

Trading any player who he had beef with, often as far away as possible. Trading Larry Playfair to LA was a direct result of Larry telling Bowman he didn't want to fight any more after Playfair broke open one of the Sutter twin's faces in a game. McKegney traded to Quebec was another, Martin to LA. Dealing two captains (Gare and Schoenfeld) to the Wings where Schoeny said "I have nothing good to say about that man" on the way out of town. Gare had similar comments.

His feud with Real Cloutier that put Cloutier into the IHL and retirement - the talk at the time was he was still mad Cloutier had refused to play for him in Montreal and went to the WHA instead.

Having a direct line installed to the bench so in game he could call down to the HC and meddle in what was going on during home games when he was officially just the GM.

He had a moment where he called ever player on the team into a meeting one at a time to ask them if they had called a reporter to let the reporter know that Dave Andreychuk's supposed fall down some stairs that resulted in him missing the playoffs with a broken collar bone was due to Andy actually f***ing around on an ATV. He made every player come in to his office with the reporter there.

Made him so miserable that Perreault said he retired rather than play for him.

Yeah, great coach and an excellent eye for talent in personnel roles, but with control his ego was rampant and he lashed out like a child at anyone who he felt wronged him.
That's interesting as f***.

I never knew any of that and would never have guessed him to be like that.
 
That's interesting as f***.

I never knew any of that and would never have guessed him to be like that.

A lot of people now remember Scotty Bowman as the grandfatherly figure with the Wings Cup win in 2002. But he was a miserable SOB to players and everyone around him for most of his career.

Even Red Wings who remember him fondly overall talk about how he'd go months without saying a word to them. And they were thankful for it.
 
That's interesting as f***.

I never knew any of that and would never have guessed him to be like that.

Complete dick and by the end had taken a team that was 2 wins from a Cup final to worst in the league. Belliveau talked about how Bowman would run into Pollock's office demanding guys be traded who he had spats with when they didn't respond to his unprofessional behavior and stood up to him.
 
We’ve all heard the same stories of Keenan, Babcock and even Scotty Bowman. But what are some less known examples of guys being less than friendly or just being bad people.

Some guys like Taylor Hall that have been moved around do have alot of chatter online of character issues or just having big egos.

Let’s keep it hockey related


Some of the biggest jerk moments specifically:
- Babcock benching Chelios in the outdoor game and making Modano a healthy scratch for game 1500

Let’s hear them especially older stories that maybe have not gotten as much chatter
Babcock never made Modano a healthy scratch for game 1500. That's a fabrication. Mike Commodore spent years spouting it yet never bothered to look it up.
 
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I remember reading a story on reddit years ago, about how some dude was sitting near RNH (or possibly Hall) at a bar with some girls, and after a few drinks he sticks his debit card in one of their mouthes and goes "hey baby, how does $925,000 taste?" or something along the lines of that.

I'm not sure if it's true or not, but that story has always stuck with me.

Dino Ciccarelli, Geoff Courtnall, Neil Sheehy and Scott Stevens
I know he has a reputation, but for a number of years he owned a sports bar in the suburbs of Detroit. One night, my aunt (in her 60's at the time) saw him sitting at a table crunching some numbers, and walked right up to him and thanked him for the memories and asked if she could get an autograph for me.

He invited her to sit down and they proceeded to talk for 10 or so minutes. Really changed my perception of him, that was a real classy thing to do and I respect that.
 
Bill Peters, former coach with the Flames/Canes/Wings, made racist comments to Akil Aliu, and multiple players confirmed that he punched/kicked players on the bench during games.

Brendan Shanahan stole then-teammate Craig Janey's wife. Not just a rumour, as she and Shanahan are now married.
 
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