Who are the worst people in Hockey history?

[Melrose Munch]

Bobby Clarke for supporting Eagleson and ruining Eric

 

[Big Phil]

I wouldn't put Goodenow on that list, not for a second. For years Eagleson played tooth fairy to the owners in keeping player salaries and advancements to a minimum, while at the same time directly stealing from the players he was supposed to be representing.
Goodenow came in and offered the players something they'd never had before - a leader who was going to actually stand up to the owners and get the players a bigger piece of the pie.
QUOTE]

Yes he didnt steal from them like Eagleson and I'm not saying he's in Eaglesson's class either but he was detrimental to the game no doubt. It was him who gave the players the false sense of security that they'd win a fight against the billionaire owners. How many times did you hear him say we will "Never accept a salary cap."

We suffered through a half season lockout and a FULL season lockout based on this concept (althogh the owners arent much better). Throw in the alleged tampering with players e-mails, the reluctance to think what's good for the game and an all around stubborn attitude that did nothing in the end and he has to be somewhere on this list.

It was Goodenow's ideas that made guys like Yashin and Anson Carter hold out for every team they belong on and demond ridiculous amounts of money they werent even near worth. Yashin was happy with his $90 million contract but who else was? Did that help or hurt the game?

 

[soundtigersfan]

He may not have acted in a criminal manner, but Peter Karmanos (owner of the Carolina Hurricanes) is far from a nice/respectable person. His excuse for moving the Whalers was the lack of a new arena, and when the state finally gave in during negotiations and offered him a new arena deal at the last second he decided to skip town anyway. He announced that the team was moving and got league approval before he had even picked a destination. He originally wanted the Whalers to be a second team in Detroit. Then he wanted them to play in an abandoned airplane hanger in Columbus. Finally, he got wind of the construction of the RBC center and decided that Raleigh would do. Throughout all of this he showed a complete lack of respect for the fans. He had an opportunity to purchase the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning franchise but turned it down in favor of the cheaper Whalers franchise. He never had any intention of keeping the team in CT, and the NHL didn't show the same commitment to its markets back then that it claims it does now. As a result, we lost our team. A lot of people like to point to the attendance figures, but how many people do you think would show up to see a team that had only 3 winning (above .500) seasons out of an 18 year run in the NHL? The team was also poorly marketed and run into the ground by a lack of media coverage. These are all things that he was supposed to help change with his deep pockets. Instead, we got flat out robbed of a team that won the Cup less than ten years later. Slick Pete is no crook, but we got robbed.

 

[arrbez]

Does anyone have a list of all the crap Ballard pulled?

It's pretty ridiculous. He should be #1 with a bullet in this thread. Like a combination of Graeme James and Bill Wirtz, with the people management skills of Bobby Clark.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Does anyone have a list of all the crap Ballard pulled?

It's pretty ridiculous. He should be #1 with a bullet in this thread. Like a combination of Graeme James and Bill Wirtz, with the people management skills of Bobby Clark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ballard

 

[MXD]

If I had to choose a few names I'd go with (Jolly) Jack Adams, Bruce Norris, Harold Ballard and Alan Eagleson just to name a few...

Hummm... I'm curious about Jack Adams...

 

[arrbez]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Ballard

Heh, I guess I should have thought of that...


- He fought with most of his family and was often vindictive towards them. Once when he discovered that the son of his estranged daughter was to play in a kids hockey tournament in the Gardens, Ballard had the entire tournament cancelled.

- In April 2003, a woman publicly identified only as R.M. filed suit against Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., claiming that Ballard had sexually abused her over a period of eight years. The abuse was said to have started in 1963 when she was 10 years old, and to have continued until she was 18. Her uncle had been a painter at the Gardens, and R.M. said she didn't come forward sooner because Ballard had threatened to fire him if she had. She sought damages of $2 million. The suit was settled in March 2006 for an undisclosed amount.

- In August 1979, to make room for private boxes, he had Foster Hewitt's broadcast gondola dumped into an incinerator.

- Angered (or maybe jealous) by Conn Smythe's success with the club and his inability to bring a Stanley Cup to Toronto, Ballard sold all of the Cup banners that had hung from the rafters of Maple Leafs Gardens for years. When the Leafs moved to the Air Canada Centre in 1999, the NHL presented the team with new banners to replace those Ballard had sold.

- When the Leafs traded Lanny McDonald, a close friend of Sittler, to the moribund Colorado Rockies on December 29, 1979; a member of the Leafs anonymously told the Toronto Star that Leafs management would "do anything to get at Sittler" and was bent on undermining the captain's influence on the team.

- Shortly after taking control of the Leafs, Ballard stood trial on 28 counts of fraud involving $82,000, 21 counts of theft involving $123,000, and tax evasion. He was accused by the Crown attorney of using funds from Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to pay for renovations to his home and cottage, to rent limousines for his daughter's wedding in 1967, and to buy motorcycles for his sons (passing off the expense as hockey equipment for the Marlboros), as well as placing money belonging to the corporation into a private bank account that he controlled along with Stafford Smythe. Harold Ballard was convicted and spent a year in Milhaven Penitentiary.

-Not only did Ballard offer Keon an insulting contract, but he also blocked Keon from joining another NHL team. With nowhere else to go, Keon went to the rogue WHA ... but his feud with Ballard persisted.

- Ballard booked The Beatles on each of their three North American tours from 1964-1966. On the second tour, in 1965, Ballard sold tickets for two shows, even though the agreement had been for only one. On the hot summer day of the concert, Ballard ordered the building's heat turned up, and the water fountains around the arena mysteriously stopped functioning. He also delayed both of the concerts for over an hour. The only available refreshments from the terrible heat were large soft drinks from the concession stands.

- He carried on a string of feuds and vendettas with the local media. In one interview, he told CBC journalist Barbara Frum that it was "a joke" to have women on the radio, adding "you know where they're at their best, don't ya... I let them up once in a while."

- A prime example of Ballard's irrational decision making came in 1979. With the Leafs struggling to earn a playoff spot Ballard, and against the will of his team, fired popular coach Roger Neilson. Two days later, Ballard reversed course and asked Neilson back, but he demanded the coach wear a paper bag over his head on the bench to hide his identity.


...not to mention all the meddling he did with the hockey operations of the club, often while drunk.

- trading Lanny Mcdonald for no reason other than to "stick it to" Darryl Sittler

- Having Russ Courtnall traded for John Kordic

- Insisting that the Leafs draft Luke Richardson in the 1987 entry draft, instead of that "fruity western kid" the scouting department had their hearts set on (Joe Sakic)

 

[dkatzism]

I'd add:

John Kordic
Sanjay Kumar
The members of the Boston Bruins who resorted to Holocaust-related taunts of Larry Zeidel
Jeff Kugel

I'll think about this more...

Edit: See note on Spano below.

 

[MXD]

I'd add:

John Kordic
Sanjay Kumar
The members of the Boston Bruins who resorted to Holocaust-related taunts of Larry Zeidel
Jeff Kugel

I'll think about this more...

Strongly disgressing about Kordic... he was just an extremely troubled child who happened to lose his role-model of daddy way to early for what he was able to stand.

And there were much more horrible personnas amongst enforcers.... And Bruins players, too (Mike Milbury pulling an Artest was much worse than anything Kordic did...).

 

[Felix Unger]

I'd add:

John Kordic
Sanjay Kumar
The members of the Boston Bruins who resorted to Holocaust-related taunts of Larry Zeidel
Jeff Kugel

I'll think about this more...

Sanjay Kumar? He may be a white-collar crook, but it's hard to see what that has to do with hockey. And he was always a small fry compared to Wang. As far as bad Islanders owners, he's not nearly the worst. Spano anyone?

Cheers,

Dan-o

 

[dkatzism]

Sanjay Kumar? He may be a white-collar crook, but it's hard to see what that has to do with hockey. And he was always a small fry compared to Wang. As far as bad Islanders owners, he's not nearly the worst. Spano anyone?

Cheers,

Dan-o

You know, I actually meant Spano and just picked the wrong name out of the brain. I'd edit my post, but I consider this lapse so unforgivably moronic that I'm willing to leave it as is and graciously take what's coming to me.

 

[seventieslord]

What about David Frost? By all accounts he's some sort of a bag.

And why Goodenow? Believe me, I hate the guy for what he did to the game, but he was paid by the PA to do a job and he did it very well, until about 2004.

 

[Hasbro]

Another member of the worst scum: Billy Tibbets

a level or two below: Bobby Hull, racist wife beater.

 

[IslesPanthers11]

This answer is simple: ANYONE IN THE ISLES FRONT OFFICE FROM 1994 TO PRESENT DAY:

The Fab Four: Fired Bill Torrey (Are you people mad?)
Don Maloney: Kicked out Healy and all the other Isles heroes from 1993
Mike Milbury: Need I say anything about this idiot
John Spano: Bought a team with no money in his bank, a criminal
Charles Wang: Stupid enough to keep MM around. (Boy are you dumb)

All these idiots have conspired to take our Islanders from the best organization in sports to the absolute worst laughingstock in all of sports. It is now a disgrace to be an Isles fan. A team where people like Ryan Smyth don't want to come here even if the team is winning.
I don't have Islander fan pride anymore, just hope. I used to wear the jersey all the time proudly. Now, I feel like I am supporting all these idiots that I listed here.

 

[BruinsBtn]

Doug Gilmour and Craig MacT get an HM

 

[God Bless Canada]

Another member of the worst scum: Billy Tibbets

a level or two below: Bobby Hull, racist wife beater.

Finally somebody mentioned Tibbets.

More on Ballard: his disdain for Christians was well-known. In fact, it led to the departure of two prominent Christian players: Laurie Boschman and Doug Jarvis. Boschman was dispatched to Edmonton because of his Christian beliefs. And in the case of Jarvis, Ballard allegedly immediately demanded Jarvis' departure from Toronto when he found out that Jarvis was a Christian. (The story is that a Montreal scout walked up to Ballard and asked "How's that Christian kid Jarvis doing?")

 

[God Bless Canada]

This answer is simple: ANYONE IN THE ISLES FRONT OFFICE FROM 1994 TO PRESENT DAY:

The Fab Four: Fired Bill Torrey (Are you people mad?)
Don Maloney: Kicked out Healy and all the other Isles heroes from 1993
Mike Milbury: Need I say anything about this idiot
John Spano: Bought a team with no money in his bank, a criminal
Charles Wang: Stupid enough to keep MM around. (Boy are you dumb)

All these idiots have conspired to take our Islanders from the best organization in sports to the absolute worst laughingstock in all of sports. It is now a disgrace to be an Isles fan. A team where people like Ryan Smyth don't want to come here even if the team is winning.
I don't have Islander fan pride anymore, just hope. I used to wear the jersey all the time proudly. Now, I feel like I am supporting all these idiots that I listed here.

Being an idiot doesn't make you a bad person. But John Spano definitely deserves mention in this thread. One of the league's truly embarassing moments.

 

[MXD]

Being an idiot doesn't make you a bad person. But John Spano definitely deserves mention in this thread. One of the league's truly embarassing moments.

This said... I think Mike Milbury deserves an HM for the Artest he pulled. Much more disgraceful than any Bertuzzi/Simon/McSorley/Perezoghin/Hunter/Lemieux punch/chop/hit/baseball swing.

 

[toastman344*]

I'm not saying he wasn't a great player ...He WAS...BUT...anyone who ever played on a Team coached by Eddie Shore , always said words to the affect that he was : ‘ The Biggest ***** in the History of Hockey !' Although I'm not going to name him, here, I know a guy who had the misfortune of being coached by Shore...He certainly never had a single good word to say about him either..

Some have called Shore 'the Harold Ballard of his era'...another apt comparison might be to call him ‘ the Ty Cobb of Hockey..'

Or Maybe THE CAPTAIN BLIGH !

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

I'm not saying he wasn't a great player ...He WAS...BUT...anyone who ever played on a Team coached by Eddie Shore , always said words to the affect that he was : ‘ The Biggest ***** in the History of Hockey !' Although I'm not going to name him, here, I know a guy who had the misfortune of being coached by Shore...He certainly never had a single good word to say about him either..

Some have called Shore 'the Harold Ballard of his era'...another apt comparison might be to call him ‘ the Ty Cobb of Hockey..'

Or Maybe THE CAPTAIN BLIGH !

He's not Ballard cause he doesn't have the history of bad activities outside the game. But, yeah, by all accounts I've read, Shore was someone you never wanted to meet. And certainly not someone you want to be coached by.

 

[Canadienjet]

David Frost by far.....

 

[RUSqueelin*]

What about David Frost? By all accounts he's some sort of a bag.

And why Goodenow? Believe me, I hate the guy for what he did to the game, but he was paid by the PA to do a job and he did it very well, until about 2004.

Maybe we can lump Goodenow in there because he's friends with Frost and was the only reason Frost got certified to be an agent in the NHLPA.

 

[Wetcoaster]

Being an idiot doesn't make you a bad person. But John Spano definitely deserves mention in this thread. One of the league's truly embarassing moments.

- Harold Ballard to jail - 47 counts of fraud and theft
- Stafford Smythe to jail (and sticking it to Vancouver in the original expansion) fraud and tax evasion
- Bruce McNall to jail for fraud
- Tom Scallen (first owner of the Canucks) to jail - theft
- Pat Quinn (expelled and banned for life from the NHL for conduct prejudicial to the league during the infamous Quinngate affair)
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=49324&highlight=quinn

 

[derbyfan]

Hummm... I'm curious about Jack Adams...

Jack Adams was a great hockey mind, no doubt.
However, he was one of the key figures in making sure the original NHLPA never got off the ground. He intimidated his players to no end, even trading Ted Lindsay and Glen Hall to the Blackhawks in one of the most ridiculous deals of all time, for the sole purpose of smashing the NHLPA.
Gordie Howe, under Jack Adam's watchful eye, remained the lowest paid superstar in the history of sport. Each year he would fill in a $1,000 increase for himself, and that was it. Since Howe set the bar for salaries in the NHL, correspondingly the rest of the players in the league got screwed as well.

For that matter, I could probably then list everyone from Conn Smythe to Clarence Campbell up to John Zeigler as bad hockey names. Everyone had a hand in making sure the NHL players had virtually NO rights for years, as the league dipped into the huge player pension surplus to fund their portion.
I love the history of the NHL from the hockey aspect, but when you go beyond that the treatment of the players for years was horrific.

 

[Wisent]

Jack Adams was a great hockey mind, no doubt.
However, he was one of the key figures in making sure the original NHLPA never got off the ground. He intimidated his players to no end, even trading Ted Lindsay and Glen Hall to the Blackhawks in one of the most ridiculous deals of all time, for the sole purpose of smashing the NHLPA.
Gordie Howe, under Jack Adam's watchful eye, remained the lowest paid superstar in the history of sport. Each year he would fill in a $1,000 increase for himself, and that was it. Since Howe set the bar for salaries in the NHL, correspondingly the rest of the players in the league got screwed as well.

For that matter, I could probably then list everyone from Conn Smythe to Clarence Campbell up to John Zeigler as bad hockey names. Everyone had a hand in making sure the NHL players had virtually NO rights for years, as the league dipped into the huge player pension surplus to fund their portion.
I love the history of the NHL from the hockey aspect, but when you go beyond that the treatment of the players for years was horrific.

While it is true that they were underpaid compared to the profits they made, they still made a lot of money. Especially in the early days when real money players where still around.