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:

 

[The Panther]

He was kind of dirty, yes, but he was about 15th in the pecking order for that distinction in his time.

Still remember Bob Probert's brutal hit on him that resulted in a suspension... Probert was good at sticking European player when they weren't looking: