What's the Consensus on Wayne Cashman?

[Buffalowing1988]

I was watching some videos on old school NHL guys and saw Cashman.

My impression was always that he was a great Bruin who was the last of the O6 and a captain for a bit. So I went to YouTube to check out more and... man. He was a dirty, dirty player.

Asked my stepdad (who had tickets back in the day to the Sabres games). He said Schoenfeld had enough of him at one point and just checked him through the boards.

But what was the deal with him? I don't really feel like his actions are justifiable. He would try and hurt the guys he fought, according to Terry O'Reilly himself. I can't think of a player in the past 20 years who had that mentality.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I was watching some videos on old school NHL guys and saw Cashman.

My impression was always that he was a great Bruin who was the last of the O6 and a captain for a bit. So I went to YouTube to check out more and... man. He was a dirty, dirty player.

Asked my stepdad (who had tickets back in the day to the Sabres games). He said Schoenfeld had enough of him at one point and just checked him through the boards.

But what was the deal with him? I don't really feel like his actions are justifiable. He would try and hurt the guys he fought, according to Terry O'Reilly himself. I can't think of a player in the past 20 years who had that mentality.

That was how the game was played back then.

Cashman was great in the corners, good defensively, excellent fighter. Most of his teammates say he was a little loco. Didn't mind using his stick up high. Made a lot of room on the ice for himself and teammates.

 

[daver]

That he missed a great opportunity to have an OG goalscoring celebration:

 

[PrimumHockeyist]

That was how the game was played back then.

Cashman was great in the corners, good defensively, excellent fighter. Most of his teammates say he was a little loco. Didn't mind using his stick up high. Made a lot of room on the ice for himself and teammates.

That's right, and basically every team had one at least. You basically had to, because the owners wanted thing that way.

I'm a bit surprised to hear O'Reilly comment on Cashman as per the OP. I was a Habs fan growing up, so I didn't get to see Boston a lot. Cashman seemed like part of a very fiesty group in general, but to me it seemed like O'Reilly was the main maniac of consequence on that team.

 

[Crosby2010]

One of those guys you might be hard pressed to find as a true "loser" of a fight. I know he had to have lost a fight clearly at some point, but he just never seemed to get hurt in them. Stan Jonathan comes to mind as well, Wendel Clark, etc. Just never seemed to lose a fight.