Looking back at prime Niklas Kronwall

[Eye of Ra]

What are you guys memories of him? How good was he in his prime? Outside of his open ice hits he was pretty good offensivly if my memory serves me right.

 

[SEALBound]

Great dman and guys always had to be aware of when he was on the ice.

Now, if you do a search on youtube, you'll quickly see what he's famous for. In my younger years, I love those highlights. As I've grown older and see the effects of those types of hits, I cringe. While he was a great dman in his day, I'm glad there are fewer Kronwalls in the league today.

 

[3074326]

Kronwall'd was a thing

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

20 minutes of hits. I know Stevens footage isn’t as available, but I gotta think Kronwall beats him in volume. Had just as many KOs if not more as well, I believe, kinda an unfortunate measure but it is what it is.

I remember Voracek getting his soul rocked when he got lazy and took too long on a pass behind him. Likely contributed to his retirement, shame, but Kronwall would make you pay on the zone exit if you made any lil mistake.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Maybe my memory is wonky but I feel like I remember he wasn’t a feared defenseman on a daily basis, he just tried to take someone’s head off once a while. Very opportunistic

 

[12ozPapa]

Hated how he hit - cowardly way to hit opponents

 

[Esq]

Left his feet constantly. Not a clean player.

Loved when Koivu straightened his ass up in OT and set up the GWG to boot.

 

[tarheelhockey]

he just tried to take someone’s head off once a while. Very opportunistic

Hated how he hit - cowardly way to hit opponents

Left his feet constantly. Not a clean player.

All of this. Maybe part of it was the contrast with warriors like Konstantinov and Chelios from a few years earlier. But he was part of a league that had a certain group of guys who just laid in the weeds waiting to catch someone looking the wrong way. It was less Scott Stevens and more like having another Ulf Samuelsson in the league. Never was a fan.

 

[DJJones]

Loved how he hit

 

[12ozPapa]

He hit with his back/side a lot, as a coward.

 

[landy]

Dont really respect intentionally hurting guys from anyone.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Under Lidstrom he thrived, he was poised to be the #1 2D in the league. Once Lidstrom left and our defense turned into a pile of shit, the burden was a bit much for him to anchor the whole blue line.

 

[eviohh26]

Dont really respect intentionally hurting guys from anyone.

Kinda like Makar on McCann ?

 

[Pavels Dog]

If you don't like Kronwall hits I'm not sure you can call yourself a hockey fan.

 

[Legionnaire11]

All of this. Maybe part of it was the contrast with warriors like Konstantinov and Chelios from a few years earlier. But he was part of a league that had a certain group of guys who just laid in the weeds waiting to catch someone looking the wrong way. It was less Scott Stevens and more like having another Ulf Samuelsson in the league. Never was a fan.

Refs and DOPS never helped either. Wings fans would always say he was clean because he was never suspended, and contort themselves into pretzels defending this stuff. I think on the suspension he finally received in the playoffs, the video explanation from the league even tried to say that all of his previous hits were different, but we all know what we had seen over the years and you can go look up his highlight videos and see how many times his skates left the ice before contact and how many times the head was the principle point of contact. There's nothing that can be done about it now, but it's a bit gross to still be celebrating this stuff these days. At least when Stevens and Kasparaitis were taking guys heads off, concussions and their long-term effects weren't entirely understood, but when Kronwall was doing it we definitely knew better.

 

[M88K]

I'll always remember him as a dirty POS who was too cowardly to drop the gloves after his headhunting.

Him getting lit up by Forsberg and Koivu with clean hits was great.
McLeod's hit was "just deserts" even though it was a dirty shot too.

 

[SuperScript29]

Working along side Lidstrom made him better, but he was still very good in his own right. He definitely was not a franchise d-man by all means, but at his very best he was a top pairing guy that was capable in scoring 40-50 points along with providing alright defense and lots of beautiful highlight reel hits.

My issues with him is he was somewhat injury prone and missed a good chunk of games during the prime of his career. Also he never really established himself as an NHL player until his mid 20s (Injuries were part of the reason), so he was a bit of a late bloomer you could say.

 

[GMR]

Under Lidstrom he thrived, he was poised to be the #1 2D in the league. Once Lidstrom left and our defense turned into a pile of shit, the burden was a bit much for him to anchor the whole blue line.

He was a good puck mover and skater, but yeah I never felt he'd be a great #1 defensemen. He was already 31 by the time Lidstrom retired. He had some good years after that but wasn't like a star defenseman or anything. Great player to have on your second pairing.

Despite the big hits on occasion, he did not play a physical game.

 

[lawrence]

Swedish dude that played kinda like a Canadian. Dirty and effective. Late round steal as per usual with the redwings finding gems with whatever picks they had.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Swedish dude that played kinda like a Canadian.

 

[LarKing]

Clean hitter that towed the line better than anyone I can think of. He didn't hit that often, as others have said, but man did he hit hard.

He was a perfect second pair anchor behind Lidstrom/Rafalski/Schneider. That top 4 of the first two with Kronwall and Stuart could do it all. I don't think we ever even attempted to have non scrubs on the bottom pair because the top 4 was just that good.

 

[Dr Robot]

Back then the only way they would call a headshot dirty is if you jumped into it. I thought he got away with it constantly, usually seemed like he was leading with his elbow and jumping to blast a guy in the head. Never like him.

 

[landy]

Kinda like Makar on McCann ?

lol in what universe is Makar's only late hit ever where he was suspended for comparable to Kronwall's entire career?

 

[johan f]

He could have scored more in another environment. In Wings he did not have that role.

What made him special was his quick backwards and sideways skating. Opponents said he just appeared from nowhere when getting hit. He could start from middle of ice but in some strides popped up, like teleporting, by the boards and met up with an unassuming winger looking down on his stick/puck.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

This guy was a pioneer of today's style of rats running around trying to injure people with gutless plays and not having to pay the price for it.