Teammates who didn’t like one another

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Just wondering if anyone knows of teammates who didn’t get along? Hockey tends to be pretty tight-lipped about those sorta things, but I figure there’s gotta be stories out there. Messier in Vancouver? I assume DeAngelo was on the outs with the guys. Not sure where the Brendan Lemieux rumors stand. I’ve heard Jason Blake wasn’t beloved. Anyone know of others or have any more info? I ask because I’m listening to Keith Jones go on about all his great teammates, and it makes me look back to the teams I played on- when everyone got along those tended to be better teams, when there were divides those teams often had on-ice issues.

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[67 others]

Just wondering if anyone knows of teammates who didn’t get along? Hockey tends to be pretty tight-lipped about those sorta things, but I figure there’s gotta be stories out there. Messier in Vancouver? I assume DeAngelo was on the outs with the guys. Not sure where the Brendan Lemieux rumors stand. I’ve heard Jason Blake wasn’t beloved. Anyone know of others or have any more info? I ask because I’m listening to Keith Jones go on about all his great teammates, and it makes me look back to the teams I played on- when everyone got along those tended to be better teams, when there were divides those teams often had on-ice issues.

As I recall, a few Stars, including Captain Morrow, hated Avery's guts lol

We could also ask Catherine Janney....Opps, I mean Catherine Shanahan

 

[Brodeur]

The ESPN documentary about Slava Fetisov happened to be on again over the weekend. Fetisov was upset that his best friend Alexei Kasatonov sided with the Russian government when he was trying to leave to play in the NHL.

Fetisov ended up joining the Devils in 1989. Then awkwardly Kasatonov joined New Jersey in early 1990. It was perhaps not a classic "feud" where they were at each other's throats, but the friendship just wasn't there any longer.

From USSR best buds to NHL enemies: How politics divided 2 ex-Devils

“The interesting thing was, they didn’t fight at all. They just didn’t speak. And they played great together,” the Hall of Fame winger said. “They were both great guys, neither of them were locker-room lawyers where they tried to get guys on their side or turn guys against the other one. There was nothing like that.

“They handled it like professionals,” Shanahan said. “It was never a distraction for them and it wasn’t for us, either. I never remember a time when a group of us said, ‘We can’t go out to dinner at a certain restaurant with Slava because Alex is going to be there.’

“Maybe they wouldn’t ride in the same cab, and maybe they sat at different ends of the table, but it wasn’t anything that became a team issue. And for me, I hit it off immediately with Slava, yet I used to ride to practice with Alex.”

 

[Sadekuuro]

I imagine there were some ruffled feathers in the Avalanche locker room when they brought in Brad May.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

I wonder what Tucker and Peca said to one another when they were on the Leafs that one year after the 02 Leafs-Isles series.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Tom Barrasso and J.S. Aubin (or anyone else)...though this probably started as a one-way street...

 

[buffalowing88]

The entire early 90s Buffalo Sabres squad disliked Hasek....well outside of like Smehlik. Barnaby goes on about it in plenty of pods and he's a bit of a lush but he seems pretty sincere in saying that the team came down to a fight between the players and Nolan and Hasek all at once. I was only like 10 but Hasek strangled out the head writer for the Buffalo News during this time and openly quit suiting up for playoff games.

It gets weird in terms of dynamics, however, because Ruff came on right after and LaFontaine was gone right after that within a season. Very odd team chemistry from 91-98 for all of Buffalo. Probably wasted a couple extra deep playoff runs.


It's pretty well documented that Phaneuf and Regehr hated one another. I don't think either is really the bad guy, just a difference in style.


Plenty of teammates didn't like Guerin. The well-known stars did, of course, since he didn't fight with them or pick on them. But he was a real POS to the players trying to make the squad.


Same with Keith Primeau.


Those last two were actually bad people.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Saku Koivu and Mike Ribeiro.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

The entire early 90s Buffalo Sabres squad disliked Hasek....well outside of like Smehlik. Barnaby goes on about it in plenty of pods and he's a bit of a lush but he seems pretty sincere in saying that the team came down to a fight between the players and Nolan and Hasek all at once. I was only like 10 but Hasek strangled out the head writer for the Buffalo News during this time and openly quit suiting up for playoff games.

It gets weird in terms of dynamics, however, because Ruff came on right after and LaFontaine was gone right after that within a season. Very odd team chemistry from 91-98 for all of Buffalo. Probably wasted a couple extra deep playoff runs.


It's pretty well documented that Phaneuf and Regehr hated one another. I don't think either is really the bad guy, just a difference in style.


Plenty of teammates didn't like Guerin. The well-known stars did, of course, since he didn't fight with them or pick on them. But he was a real POS to the players trying to make the squad.


Same with Keith Primeau.


Those last two were actually bad people.

Huh, I was a kid then so I didn’t really understand all the drama. I get Hasek’s frustration to some degree, but he was also a prick in general. Seems to have mellowed with age, but that’s a childhood hero i soured on early. f***in Kozlov in return, really? Shoulda called his bluff on that retirement bs.

I’m shocked Guerin got a job and is a successful GM after basically assaulting a player in camp. Old boys club, I tell ya.

 

[Nick Hansen]

What was the deal with the PK Subban era in Montreal? I could personally never really piece it all together, I just remember he seemed to clash with a few of the guys in the locker room. Gallagher and Pacioretty? Did Price sour on him in the end as well?

 

[johan f]

What was the deal with the PK Subban era in Montreal? I could personally never really piece it all together, I just remember he seemed to clash with a few of the guys in the locker room. Gallagher and Pacioretty? Did Price sour on him in the end as well?

There was a videoclip from their lockerroom when Subban announces the starting line up in big fanfare and going over board heavily with the presentetation. None of the players played along fully. They seemed uncomfortable.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

The entire early 90s Buffalo Sabres squad disliked Hasek....well outside of like Smehlik. Barnaby goes on about it in plenty of pods and he's a bit of a lush but he seems pretty sincere in saying that the team came down to a fight between the players and Nolan and Hasek all at once. I was only like 10 but Hasek strangled out the head writer for the Buffalo News during this time and openly quit suiting up for playoff games.

I heard Barnaby talking about Hasek on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, that he was a general grade-A prick, a cheater (but I’m not sure if he meant that he was cheating on his partner, having an affair with a teammate’s partner, or both) and so on. He said he hated the guy, but he also made it clear that he regarded him the best goaltender in the world bar none, and that it was amazing how he managed to keep those offensively challenged teams in the game.

With Hasek, I think I’ve heard slightly more positive reviews from the Blackhawks days, but it might just have been Mike Keenan, and it isn’t really about Hasek being a good teammate as much as distinctly different from Belfour (who I’d wager also has made a few enemies among his teammates). I remember hearing stories about Hasek’s commitment to improving his game, and that players to an extent appreciated Hasek in practice as he actually encouraged them to fire howitzers at and try to score on him, whereas Belfour would lose his shit and go after guys for taking a slap shot at him in practice. But iirc Hasek also kept guys on the ice forever just trying to score on him, so in the end they probably didn’t appreciate it all that much.

 

[Moose Head]

Patrick Roy didn’t like Turgeon. Stemmed from when Turgeon stayed on the bench during the bench clearing brawl in Piestany where Roy’s brother was double teamed by two Soviets. When Turgeon was named captain of the Habs by Tremblay, Roy was not happy.

I’ve heard Gary Roberts and Corson couldn’t stand eachother since their Junior days.

 

[67 others]

Patrick Roy didn’t like Turgeon. Stemmed from when Turgeon stayed on the bench during the bench clearing brawl in Piestany where Roy’s brother was double teamed by two Soviets. When Turgeon was named captain of the Habs by Tremblay, Roy was not happy.

I’ve heard Gary Roberts and Corson couldn’t stand eachother since their Junior days.

Speaking of Roy. Him and Tremblay hated each other as teammates and it carried over to when Tremblay coached

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Patrick Roy didn’t like Turgeon. Stemmed from when Turgeon stayed on the bench during the bench clearing brawl in Piestany where Roy’s brother was double teamed by two Soviets. When Turgeon was named captain of the Habs by Tremblay, Roy was not happy.

do we know this for a fact, or is this just us collectively putting two and two together from that line in gare joyce’s book about iirc “a former canadiens star” anonymously making a comment about snowpeas?

 

[ForsbergForever]

The rumor a few seasons back was that the Penguins dumped Kessel because Malkin didn't like him, not sure why or what the backstory was.

 

[Albatros]

Selänne and Stéphane Quintal weren't best pals in Winnipeg.

 

[shadow1]

For Colorado, it was speculated by the Denver Post that Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly weren't on speaking terms in 2013 after O'Reilly held out for part of season due to a contract dispute. In was speculated in 2016 by the same DP writer (Mike Chambers) that those fences never mended by the time O'Reilly was traded to Buffalo.

Steve Downie was rumored to have been traded (for Max Talbot) due to a pre-season indecent with Gabe Landeskog. From Friedman:

“Obviously, people thought it was a weird trade. You rarely see a first-rounder get traded for a guy who — while a useful player — is now pretty much a fourth-liner.
“During training camp, Downie got angry at Landeskog for a trip during a scrimmage, and he drilled [Landeskog]. I was just told that from that day, considering Downie was a bit unrepentant about it, I just heard the Avalanche decided they were going to make the change at that time.“Basically the Avalanche decided that when that happened, and Downie was unapologetic about it, the time was going to come when he was going to get dealt.”

From The Denver Post:

While there have been no fights so far, there was some bad blood today between Gabe Landeskog and Steve Downie at least. I didn’t see the whole thing, but Landy took major exception to a hit Downie gave him during scrimmages today and tried to go after him along the bench. But Downie, whose helmet flew off on his hit, was bending down to pick it up and couldn’t engage much.
So later, Landy got Downie in the corner and flat-out pitch-forked his feet from under him with his stick, sending Downie down on the ice. When Downie got up, he skated gingerly back to the bench, looking to have a leg that was not feeling too hot. He sat out a couple of shifts, but when he returned for a faceoff, with Landy lined up outside on the circle, he skated like the wind to get next to Landy just in time for the drop of the puck and there was a little more pushing and shoving from there.

Colorado was off to a 10-1-0 start and out of the blue makes a trade that they clearly lose on paper. I think we have the evidence above.

 

[Plural]

Selänne and Stéphane Quintal weren't best pals in Winnipeg.

Any details on this? Would be interesting to know.

 

[Nick Hansen]

I believe there might've been a slight disagreement between Erik Karlsson and Mike Hoffman.

 

[Prsut18]

The entire early 90s Buffalo Sabres squad disliked Hasek....well outside of like Smehlik. Barnaby goes on about it in plenty of pods and he's a bit of a lush but he seems pretty sincere in saying that the team came down to a fight between the players and Nolan and Hasek all at once. I was only like 10 but Hasek strangled out the head writer for the Buffalo News during this time and openly quit suiting up for playoff games.

It gets weird in terms of dynamics, however, because Ruff came on right after and LaFontaine was gone right after that within a season. Very odd team chemistry from 91-98 for all of Buffalo. Probably wasted a couple extra deep playoff runs.
.

Hasek was weird personality, but this is only Barnaby´s side of the story... Hasek described it from his point of view clearly too in his biography and clarified lots of things

 

[The Professional]

The entire early 90s Buffalo Sabres squad disliked Hasek....well outside of like Smehlik. Barnaby goes on about it in plenty of pods and he's a bit of a lush but he seems pretty sincere in saying that the team came down to a fight between the players and Nolan and Hasek all at once. I was only like 10 but Hasek strangled out the head writer for the Buffalo News during this time and openly quit suiting up for playoff games.

It gets weird in terms of dynamics, however, because Ruff came on right after and LaFontaine was gone right after that within a season. Very odd team chemistry from 91-98 for all of Buffalo. Probably wasted a couple extra deep playoff runs.


It's pretty well documented that Phaneuf and Regehr hated one another. I don't think either is really the bad guy, just a difference in style.


Plenty of teammates didn't like Guerin. The well-known stars did, of course, since he didn't fight with them or pick on them. But he was a real POS to the players trying to make the squad.


Same with Keith Primeau.


Those last two were actually bad people.

That scrimmage game cheap shot could have been a freaking criminal charge. Not only does he Tomahawk him in the head with his stick, he then whines up and gives him a full force cross check while he is down. f***ing gutless. If that happens during an actual game I wonder what the disciplinary result would have been.

 

[Albatros]

Any details on this? Would be interesting to know.

Apparently Quintal felt that Selänne was only interested in his own scoring at expense of team effort.

 

[Brodeur]

Robitaille Looking Beyond Gretzky Feud (Published 1996)

Wayne Gretzky feeling the heat with the subpar L.A. Kings (1995)

Current King players dispute Beverley's contention that Gretzky's power created tension on the club, although the relationship between Gretzky and former star left wing Luc Robitaille did grow strained. When McMaster traded him to Pittsburgh for rightwinger Rick Tocchet on July 29 -- one of the rare King deals in recent times that hasn't backfired -- Robitaille spoke out. He didn't use Gretzky's name, but he said, "Players should play, and managers should manage. Maybe one of the reasons I'm going is because I agree with that.''

I think they buried the hatchet since, but it seems like there was something with Gretzky and Robitaille. The Kings shipped out Robitaille for a Gretzky buddy Rick Tocchet. Gretzky and Robitaille would be teammates again in New York for a season before the latter would be sent back to Los Angeles.

 

[tinyzombies]

What was the deal with the PK Subban era in Montreal? I could personally never really piece it all together, I just remember he seemed to clash with a few of the guys in the locker room. Gallagher and Pacioretty? Did Price sour on him in the end as well?

Plenty of players have said that is untrue. Rinne wrote an op-ed piece in Sporting News saying PK was well liked in the lockerroom as well.

I think a lot of this stems from his agitation on the ice. But he got a lot of abuse on the ice and rarely got calls. He said it himself. So he turned to agitation. Now he's been slewfooting players left and right tho...