Teammates who didn’t like one another

[MS]

I've never liked Primeau at all. I have heard he threw a stick rack at Fedorov when they were teammates (a friend said it - not sure if this is true or not) and he was called "Primeau-Donna" earlier in his career.

Do you know of any particular incidents he was involved in in which he was a POS?

Didn't Probert knock Primeau out in the Wings dressing room when Primeau wouldn't stop whining about how he was ripped off of a 2nd assist?

 

[The Pale King]

A lotta people in this thread jumping on Bill Guerin, but here's the thing: put yourself in Guerin's shoes. Now hear me out here (I've linked a source at the bottom because we've already had the libel warning in this thread):

You're Bill Guerin. You're a friggin' nine year veteran. You got the Cups, you got the Olympic jerseys. But you're new to the Stars. You're trying to make friends. You're cooking up your jockstrap omelettes*. You're dealing em out, they're flying off the pan. Modano takes one, Zubov takes one. Turgeon took one, but you suspect he emptied it into the trash. But the point is: your new teammates, hell, they are enjoying your fried egg dish. Things are loose, the room is relaxed. It's all going accordin' to Billy's plan.

And in walks this kid, some rookie. Things quiet down substantially. Hatcher gives you a look, like "Billy is this kid gonna get any of your eggs?" But you're Bill Guerin. You adjust the strap, and you say, "Heck, have some of these eggs, kiddo."

And the kid, this jumpy lil bag of bones says "Sorry Mister Guerin, I'm lactose intolerant. I can't eat any of your jockstrap eggs."

But you're Bill Guerin, you're quick on your feet. "Lactose intolerant?" And here you dig back in your brain, back to your school days, back to the Edmonton Public library days where you spent a lot of time in the Russian Classics section. "More like lachrymose and somnambulant, am I right?"

And the room went to pieces. Everybody was laughin' it up, someone smacked your butt. You're Bill Guerin, this is just how life goes for you.

So you can understand, perhaps, why when this kid gets up in your face later in the day, you were perhaps at the end of your tether already. Nobody turns down Billy's eggs.



*jockstrap eggs mentioned here, seven paragraphs in. Guerin delivered leadership, humor and Cups during Pens' tenure

 

[Dr John Carlson]

The Capitals' old beat writer, Isabelle Khurshudyan, implied in a tweet that Ovechkin and Backstrom do not get along very well. Can't find it anywhere though.

Seems hard to believe, but she would've spent plenty of time in the locker room, so who knows? Alan May, former Capital and current TV talking head, actually addressed it and said there was no truth to it. I kind of choose to believe there's at least some basis of truth there - they do have very different personalities from what can be seen from the fan's perspective.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

there was a rumour that raffi torres wasn’t brought back after the 2011 season because the players’ wives couldn’t stand him. they “thought he was a pig” is the way it was out, iirc, and one player’s wife in particular was cited as the source; i can’t remember whose but it was a vet but not a star.

so even though he was cheap and wanted to come back he signed with phoenix in the off-season.

 

[buffalowing88]

Or maybe Hasek was injured? Is it, in fact, possible that he was a better judge of his own injuries than you?

You're right, Roy would never have done that. However, Roy did send up himself and the Montreal Canadiens' fanbase, putting his own ego far in front of the team, and disgraced that proud organization (forcing them to trade him) in the process.

True. I'm not Hasek. I do think he was the equivalent of a modern NBA player who would pull himself for lesser injuries whereas other guys would play through it. Maybe Hasek thought he had to be at 100 percent. Or maybe he's just a dramatic person. I think there's evidence to support either side.

Fair point on Roy. I don't have any justification for that whole incident. Roy was an asshole and a real egomaniac. I just think if he was offered a chance to play in a big game/playoff series, he would let that ego keep him in. Hasek was something else.

 

[buffalowing88]

It certainly was not not him.

It was Warrener. I

I can't get into specifics and name names, because I can't reveal how I know this, but Phaneuf had beef with the entire Flames roster. He was vehemently disliked in the room for his selfish me-first behaviour on the ice and how much he enjoyed being on the hilight reel. He was mockingly known as "Sportscentre" in the room and one veteran (not Iginla) repeatedly would call him out for selfish play including at least once with many journalists in the room.

Good stuff! I'm guessing it was Regehr. If you listen to interviews you cannot imagine two people being more separate in terms of personalities and they were both prominent members of that squad.

 

[buffalowing88]

I've never liked Primeau at all. I have heard he threw a stick rack at Fedorov when they were teammates (a friend said it - not sure if this is true or not) and he was called "Primeau-Donna" earlier in his career.

Do you know of any particular incidents he was involved in in which he was a POS?

He held out on two contracts with two different teams during his career which is...unusual. He also fought Probert over a "practical joke" in practice not long before being sent away. No one ever seemed to side with him on that whole thing. He tried to beat up one of the most highly regarded players on the team and looked like an ass.

And then just his interviews since. It's arbitrary of me to say that and I'll back off the Primeau hate when Guerin is the real bad guy, but he seems extraordinarily full of himself for someone who is sort of a let-down in terms of his career. The only guy who came across as more pompous in interviews from that era was Gilmour but Killer is also a legend so he can say what he wants. Primeau, not so much.

 

[buffalowing88]

I wasn't suggesting you were wrong. I was saying Barnaby's story doesn't add up because it pre-dates his NHL contract, that's all.

Barnaby is admittedly a terrible source. But I do believe his statements on Hasek being a malcontent. That Sabres lockerroom was golden up until he became the starter and then all of a sudden it deteriorated.

Not taking anything away from Hasek because he's...well, he's Hasek. But man was he disliked around Buffalo. Weird for arguably the best player in the league for a five year span to be disliked and it was not an anti-European bias at all. It was just his personality. He was on The Instigators within the past year and they kept trying to talk to him about his time there and he kept talking about his hunting dogs. The man is just on another planet in terms of a reality check.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

The Capitals' old beat writer, Isabelle Khurshudyan, implied in a tweet that Ovechkin and Backstrom do not get along very well. Can't find it anywhere though.

Seems hard to believe, but she would've spent plenty of time in the locker room, so who knows? Alan May, former Capital and current TV talking head, actually addressed it and said there was no truth to it. I kind of choose to believe there's at least some basis of truth there - they do have very different personalities from what can be seen from the fan's perspective.

I could see that perhaps they’ve had a rift at some point over their long history together, but if they didn’t bury their hatchets and continued the special friendship that’s usually presented of the two, they’re both better actors than I feel comfortable giving them credit for.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

I could see that perhaps they’ve had a rift at some point over their long history together, but if they didn’t bury their hatchets and continued the special friendship that’s usually presented of the two, they’re both better actors than I feel comfortable giving them credit for.

It would've been in 2015/2016/2017 - before the Cup win, so I think you're probably right.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I've never liked Primeau at all. I have heard he threw a stick rack at Fedorov when they were teammates (a friend said it - not sure if this is true or not) and he was called "Primeau-Donna" earlier in his career.

Do you know of any particular incidents he was involved in in which he was a POS?

There was a time when Primeau got his ass kicked at practice by Probert.

Ludington Daily News - Google News Archive Search

What a Munson.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

There was a time when Primeau got his ass kicked at practice by Probert.

Ludington Daily News - Google News Archive Search

What a Munson.

primeau’s assist thing and his teammates’ reaction reminds me of when rookie cody hodgson was complaining about not getting enough icetime (behind hart winner henrik sedin and selke winner ryan kesler), so in the dressing room the vets snuck a hockey tape C on his practice jersey

nobody likes a guy who thinks his own priorities are bigger than the team

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

primeau’s assist thing and his teammates’ reaction reminds me of when rookie cody hodgson was complaining about not getting enough icetime (behind hart winner henrik sedin and selke winner ryan kesler), so in the dressing room the vets snuck a hockey tape C on his practice jersey

nobody likes a guy who thinks his own priorities are bigger than the team

They do not.

I think there was also a similar assist situation between Shayne Corson and Jason Arnott in Edmonton. Corson blew up on someone (either an official or a teammate) about not getting an assist on an Arnott goal.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

you could be right. Just read Roy’s HOF speech and he described Turgeon as a guy he became great friends with. If there had been animosity, it seems Roy got over it.

i do still believe that quote in joyce’s book was roy. but i also imagine there’s a difference between not respecting a guy’s will to win, which i don’t doubt roy felt about turgeon, and understanding that you can’t hold a guy’s decision from when he was 18 against him as a human being when you’re both retired middle aged men.

both are high profile granby bisons alumni, of roughly the same age as two other habs stars, desjardins and richer, and stephane roy. i wonder if they’ve had a lot of contact through that network over the years. the 96 habs began the year with roy, turgeon, stephane quintal, and marc bureau, who all played on granby in 1985 (roy’s last year) and 1986 (turgeon’s first year), which kind of suggests to me that might have been a fraternity of guys from that team.

 

[crobro]

Linden Nedved

 

[67 others]

Or maybe Hasek was injured? Is it, in fact, possible that he was a better judge of his own injuries than you?

You're right, Roy would never have done that. However, Roy did send up himself and the Montreal Canadiens' fanbase, putting his own ego far in front of the team, and disgraced that proud organization (forcing them to trade him) in the process.

I've read nothing but accounts of how Tremblay decided to treat Roy like shit from day 1. To the point where the Captain Keane and 6 other members of the team went to plead with the GM to intervene because it was pretty obvious singling out mistreatment.

Like Tremblay spoke with members of the team, purportedly to "Get to know them", but spent time fishing for information on things Roy liked doing to prepare for a game or relax after a game and then he made team rules outlawing doing them. Seriously, why make a rule that a player can't do his stretches in the clinic with team doctors unless he is injured and unable to play?

Nobody at any job who has any sort of self respect and knows they can easily get hired elsewhere for the same pay puts up with gross bullying mistreatment by a supervisor if upper management decides to ignore the issue. Its a career. A job. If you are one of the best in your chosen field, you have those options. Its on management for not putting Tremblay in his place.

Tremblay made it plain he hated Roy before he was even hired. Hell, they hated each other as roommates, and Tremblay spent near his entire radio career telling everyone Roy sucked and went into that locker room just itching to knock Roy down several pegs.

Roy made the right choice. He was not truly given a choice. Its a toxic work environment, you have options, you get out. Christ, Tremblay physically assaulted Roy by firing pucks at his neck in practice OVER AND OVER and singled him out for public verbal sodomy every chance he got. He purposely left a goalie in who asked to be pulled just to get him booed by his own fans so he could smirk about it and say "Im the boss, I have the power and F U pat hahahaha"

In any case, time proved Tremblay had absolutely no business being an NHL coach and proved they should have kept Patrick, who went on to win another Conn Smythe with his 2 more Stanley cups

 

[DRL]

I was going to say that Avery pretty much pissed off all the vets on Detroit.

I forget who said it, but it was reported that when Avery was chirping at Salic from the bench Brett Hull pulled Avery back to the bench and said, “ You don’t get to talk to Mr. Sakic like that.”

Hull liked him enough to have him stay at his house as a rookie and later signed him in Dallas. Which ended up regretting.

 

[sabremike]

Barnaby is admittedly a terrible source. But I do believe his statements on Hasek being a malcontent. That Sabres lockerroom was golden up until he became the starter and then all of a sudden it deteriorated.

Not taking anything away from Hasek because he's...well, he's Hasek. But man was he disliked around Buffalo. Weird for arguably the best player in the league for a five year span to be disliked and it was not an anti-European bias at all. It was just his personality. He was on The Instigators within the past year and they kept trying to talk to him about his time there and he kept talking about his hunting dogs. The man is just on another planet in terms of a reality check.

Barnaby's book (which is a must read imo) talk about his visceral hatred of Dom and the reasons for it. First was the whole "quitting on the team in the playoffs thing" but the thing that really got Dom on his PSL was his role in getting Nolan (whom he outright credits for his NHL career) fired (and no, it had nothing to do with THAT rumor that refuses to die no matter how man times it's been debunked). He actually vowed to run Dom in training camp and the GM literally agreed to give him a bonus he hadn't actually earned if he agreed not to do so.

 

[crobro]

Trevor linden and Pete Nedved

 

[Primary Assist]

Now some people may say that Alex Auld and Ed Belfour didn't get along when they were members of the Panthers. But that simply isn't true. They got along so well in fact they even horsed around in the hotel lobby squirting water bottles at each other (just ignore the part where Auld had to go to hospital to get stitches in his eyebrow from a fist-shaped wound)

Belfour denies he was involved in drunken scuffle

The Globe and Mail offers the most authoritative news in Canada, featuring national and international news

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[connellc]

Rob Ray and Phil Housley

Rob Ray and Phil Housley

"I detest Phil Housley. I still hate him. I fight Tie (Domi), but it's not as if I hate him. I played with Phil Housley and he treated me like (crap) while he was here. He's someone, to this day, I still hate. He showed you no respect and pretended that he was "the man' and never gave you a chance as a young guy to fit in. I have a problem with that guy."

SLAP SHOTS

Tough guy Rob Ray has been involved in many scraps with many players in his 11 seasons with the Sabres. But when Razor thinks about it, he has special feelings for the following five hombres:

www.tampabay.com

 

[JianYang]

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?

Prust was on a podcast and pretty much described the love hate relationship that players have with pk. If his story is true, I can see how he could be an annoying guy to be around from time to time.

I don't think price has ever publicly said anything about any player. He keeps his cards very close to the vest.

The reality is though that when you have so many guys in one room, there's bound to be clashes, just like there is with families.

The one that always makes me chuckle is when we assume that a couple guys will get along simply because they share the same nationality.

 

[NyQuil]

Prust was on a podcast and pretty much described the love hate relationship that players have with pk. If his story is true, I can see how he could be an annoying guy to be around from time to time.

I don't think price has ever publicly said anything about any player. He keeps his cards very close to the vest.

The reality is though that when you have so many guys in one room, there's bound to be clashes, just like there is with families.

The one that always makes me chuckle is when we assume that a couple guys will get along simply because they share the same nationality.

I remember him having a grand opening for his website and brand or something and no teammates showing up.

 

[crobro]

Al Iafrate did not like Gary Leeman for reasons better left unsaid

John Kordic j through him out the limo at Pearson in the rain after returning from a road trip

 

[Albatros]

Al Iafrate did not like Gary Leeman for reasons better left unsaid

To my understanding they just had a temporary if very public fallout when Leeman had an affair with Iafrate's wife. Otherwise they've been rather good friends before and after.