Gary Roberts joins the team

[harmfuljays]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/kr ... onsultant/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Awesome! Go Gary!

[E.L.]

The Seattle Kraken players are gonna be RIPPED.

[Pokecheque]

Gary arguably had a far bigger impact off the ice than on it, he played a big part in revolutionized fitness regimens for players. Once people saw how well he helped Steven Stamkos the rest is history.

[Chris18]

On behalf of Kenny Jonsson, I say "fuck Gary Roberts".

[Bosc]

On behalf of Kenny Jonsson, I say "fuck Gary Roberts".

Johan Franzen too.

It was hard not to like how Roberts played but he was dirty as fuck sometimes.

Good hire by Seattle though. I wonder if anyone else had tried to hire him.

[Chris18]

On behalf of Kenny Jonsson, I say "fuck Gary Roberts".

Johan Franzen too.

It was hard not to like how Roberts played but he was dirty as fuck sometimes.

Good hire by Seattle though. I wonder if anyone else had tried to hire him.

Dept of Player Safety?

[harmfuljays]

This used to be a hit back in the day......but that has since changed... for the better it seems. Dirty in this case seems to be used quite liberally and not something I would attribute to Roberts.....He had an edge and a chip that has long since been eradicated by the league for sure. To each his own but if we're going to demonize the old school we're going to end up with a long list.

[E.L.]

Wow, a ridiculous headshot today, but pretty common back then.

I still think when teams acquire power forwards (ahem, Josh Anderson), they still have dreams of Gary Roberts. He's the modern prototype.

[Bosc]

This used to be a hit back in the day......but that has since changed... for the better it seems. Dirty in this case seems to be used quite liberally and not something I would attribute to Roberts.....He had an edge and a chip that has long since been eradicated by the league for sure. To each his own but if we're going to demonize the old school we're going to end up with a long list.

It isn't loading for me, but wasn't this one the blatant flying hit in the head from behind? Those were never hits.

Roberts did this after Franzen had come back from a brain injury(Jonsson had concussion history too). Direct punch in the head.



Look man I know you loved Gary, but he did dirty shit and not just in the eyes of today's game. We never agree on it, though

[Chris18]

Sorry Jay, I disagree. Forearm was on Jonsson's neck. But that's not even what bothers me so much about Roberts on that play. He kept yelling that Jonsson was faking. You can read his lips saying "get up!" a few times. Total dick. Never apologized or anything. Jonsson was never the same afterwards.

I'm all for hardnosed hockey, especially in the playoffs. But the Leafs were just out to injure in that series. that was 2 games after Tucker took out Peca's knee.

Anyway. Roberts has an NHL job. Other teams should watch their backs when playing the Back Kraken Seattle team (see what I did there?).

[harmfuljays]

Back Kraken.....That's pretty good!

Even as old men they are still playing this way:




As I said to each his own...I see power forward with an edge....you guys see dirty head hunter.....I know where you guys stand on that stuff anyway. I prefer a little more violence in my dirty (That was a semi-dive from Franzen )but it was a different time and Roberts is a player from the 80s and 90s. Both of the referenced incidents occurred during the League's lengthy cleanup phase and its a different game today as a result (vague injury reports...no head contact). You can even hear the announcers talking about how Jonsson turned into it...they don't do that anymore or fear the wrath!

To further this we could probably analyze Scott Stevens....most of his hits by today's standards were vicious head shots that ended careers (he also was forced to retire from a concussion). Is he Dirty? Well looking back using today's definition certainly...but at the time it was pretty f'n awesome.....as long as you weren't on the receiving end (or Paul Kariya, Eric Lindros or Kozlov).

Now if we want to talk egregious...the below is the worst thing I have ever seen.....and that's worse than the Moore mugging and the McSorley whacking.........




I am surprised that Pacioretty wasn't killed.

Is Chara dirty? Of course...he's a Bruin! Now Marchand...he's dirty......not Matt Cooke dirty though (that's my bar).

Then...there is always this classic....

[Chris18]

I didn't mean to turn this into a discussion on dirty hits for 2 days. But Jay, that was the Leafs announcers on the Jonsson hit. I clearly remember Isles announcers going crazy over it. Joe Micheletti (now Rangers announcer) was pretty much yelling that the Leafs were trying to win the series by taking out the Isles best players (Peca had been taken out 2 games earlier). He was furious. The Leafs announcers, not so much. But that's hardly surprising. Every announcer is at least a bit of a homer, especially when there's an injury.

And yeah, there certainly were plenty of dirty players back then. Isles had Pilon, Kasparitis, etc. I'm not saying they're angels. I just hate Roberts for that hit on Jonsson and mainly the BS afterwards.

[harmfuljays]

Eh...what else are we doing around here? Its a lighter break from the POTUS facade, the Vid, or how social media/AI is destroying the fabric of society.

yeah....and that seems to be what was happening during the Penguins/Wings matchup as well (referenced above with Franzen). Pens were getting owned by the Wings and then started a campaign of intimidation in an effort to motivate, injure, or whatever.

When was the last time a team mailed in a game and just resorted to intimidation to send a message? The league has done a good job of limiting those shenanigans.

[E.L.]

Don't get me wrong, I love Gary Roberts and those types of old school power forwards, and yeah, dirty hits come with the territory and I'm ok with that. There's a fine line between playing with an edge and being dirty. Guys like Matt Cooke were outright dirty, guys like Roberts played with a bit more nuance. Sometimes you're so overwhelmingly strong you can't help but knock guys out, and back in the day shoulder to the head was legal.

The way the speed of the game is now you can't do that because guys would be decapitated, but I don't retroactively hate guys who used to do it. Just a different time.

[Bosc]

I saw the Roberts-Draper exchange and thought it was pretty funny. Even as they get older, some guys just can't turn that off. Dino certainly came into the corner hard, alumni game be damned.

And yeah, Franzen certainly helped it along but the guy just came back from a brain injury and it was a direct punch to the head by Roberts.

Those Stevens hits. Depends on what your definition of dirty was. If you equate dirty to legal at the time, then no you wouldn't feel those were dirty. Did you feel like Stevens was purposefully targeting the head and hurting guys? Because that's what, in my opinion, made those hits dirty though they were legal.


Claude was a fucking despicable hockey player.

Matt Cooke too. I've never seen a player who simply never thought they did anything wrong on any dirty hit as Matt Cooke.

Egregious? Dirty? Bure on Churla! No suspension.


Man its crazy looking back at the shit that happened back in the day. But watching some of the older games, I can't take watching the skill-less hooking/holding/grabbing. It's brutal.

[harmfuljays]

Dino certainly came into the corner hard, alumni game be damned.

I thought the same thing...I even said you go Dino! Even for all the tough flow aspects of the game I do miss those guys. Some very tough...hard edged dudes in that Alumni game. While I like the current flow of the game the emotion level just isn't the same for me.