Was Tomas Sandström a dirty player?

[Eye of Ra]

I remember Don Cherry had Sandström as the second most dirty player ever in the NHL on his list. Was Sandström really that dirty?

 

[Bear of Bad News]

 

[Gorskyontario]

He was dirty but definitely not 2nd dirtiest ever.

 

[connellc]

Bryan Marchment was the dirtiest NHL player in the Dirtiest era. Period end of story.

 

[Staniowski]

Sandstrom was a bit dirty, yes, and a good skater, and best-known for his shooting, especially his slapshot.

Don Cherry's Top 50 dirtiest players would no doubt be filled with Swedes, Russians, and French-speaking Quebecers...and especially any of these who wear visors.

 

[Moose Head]

He was a rat, but there were rattier player then, before and since.

 

[Johnny Engine]

For some reason a passage from Stephen Cole's "Slapshots" sticks in my head.

"You hear about Ulf Samuelsson and Tomas Sandstrom being particularly vicious, but that's cultural. Is a dirty Swede spear to the thigh really worse than a manly Canadian elbow to the chops? Now if you want to find someone who will give you both while you're not looking, it's

Spoiler: Guess who he means before you check...

Chris Chelios

."

Always thought that was a funny way to put it.

 

[reckoning]

It's hard to tell from this video how close his stick was to Kjell Samuelsson's head, but he's definitely careless with it:

 

[reckoning]

This is another one where the video footage isn't great, but it looks like he's swinging at the head:

 

[reckoning]

And here's a stick to the face of Jay Wells after the whistle, going far past the point of acceptable retaliation: