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In the long history of the NHL there have been many moments that the league wished never happened. Some on my list are of course made tongue-in-cheek, and I only restricted myself to 100.

Do you have any other examples of incidents in the NHL that led to bad publicity or was just embarrassing to the league in general, sad stuff, or stuff that happened behind closed doors that the league tried to put a lid on?

1918 – “Montreal Arena in flames” – Montreal Wanderers

1919 – “Spanish influenza” – Joe Hall / Stanley Cup Finals

1921 – “Senators leaving the ice / Smeaton resigning” – Ottawa Senators / Cooper Smeaton

1922 – “One man war” – Sprague Cleghorn vs Ottawa Senators

1925 – “Roar of the Tiger players” – Hamilton Tigers / Frank Calder

1926 – “”Tuberculosis” - Georges Vézina

1927 – “Suspended for life” – Billy Coutu

1931 – “Rig it big nose Harry” – Harry Acker / Alec Connell / Bill Dwyer / The Mob

1933 – “Fractured skull” - Eddie Shore / Ace Bailey

1933 – “First forfeited game” – Tommy Gorman vs Bill Stewart / Boston vs Chicago

1937 – “Broken leg and death” – Howie Morenz

1939-45 - "World War II" - NHL - Added by BigBadBruins7708

1943
– “Three heart attacks” – Frank Calder

1946 – “Betting on his own team” – Babe Pratt

1948 – “Banned for life” – Don Gallinger / Billy Taylor

1955
– “The Richard Riot” – Maurice Richard / Clarence Campbell

1957 – “Birth of a players’ union” - Ted Lindsay / Doug Harvey and others

1959 – “All-time low move by Jack Adams” – Jack Adams / Billy McNeill

1959 - "Officiating Mess" - Red Storey / Calrence Campbell - Added by Canadiens1958

1963
– "Officiating mess” – Eddie Powers / Clarence Campbell / Toe Blake

1968 – “On ice fatality” – Bill Masterton

1968 – “Stick swinging I” – Larry Zeidel / Eddie Shack

1969 – “Stick swinging II” – Wayne Maki / Ted Green

1970 – “CKPG-TV shootout” – Roy Spencer vs the Police

1972 – “Rival WHA” – WHA vs NHL

1974 – “Lawsuit costing the NHL $ 4000 per day” – Barry van Gerbig / California Golden Seals vs NHL

1975 – “On-ice assaults” – Dan Maloney vs Brian Glennie & Dave Forbes vs Henry Boucha

1977 – “No salary = No game / lawsuit” – Mel Swig / Cleveland Barons / NHL

1977 – “Sky shops bribe” – Clarence Campbell / Louis Giguére / NHL

1977 – “Paying for cars, NY apartment & first class trips” – National Hockey League Services / NHL / Don Ruck

1978 – “No letters on my jerseys” – NHL vs Harold Ballard / Toronto Maple Leafs

1978 – “First NHL player to be arrested on drug charges” – Don Murdoch

1978 - "Finito after 14 knee operations" - Bobby Orr - Added by BobbyAwe

1979
– “Soviet Union-NHL All-Stars 6-0” – Soviet Union / Challenge Cup / NHL

1979 - "The Shoe" - Mike Milbury / Boston Bruins / New York fans - Added by Filthy Dangles

1981
– “Stuck in a seat” - Barry Tabobondung / NHL draft / Philadelphia Flyers

1981 – “Soviet Union-Canada 8-1” – Soviet Union / Canada / Canada Cup

1982 – “The light bulb” - Pete Peeters / Jay Greenberg

1982 – “The sucker punch” – Jimmy Mann vs Paul Gardner

1982 - "Brain Aneurysm" - Normand Léveillé - Added by Sadekuuro

1982 – "Mulvey refusing to fight" - Paul Mulvey / Don Perry / Los Angeles Kings - Added by Iron Mike Sharpe


1982 – "Harry Neale duking it out with fans" - Harry Neale / Vancouver Canucks - Added by Iron Mike Sharpe

1983 – “Lawsuit – counter-suit & draft forfeit” – Ralston Purina / NHL / St.Louis Blues

1983 – “To any who now use, or may want to use, illegal drugs, we say this: We do not want you. Get out and stay out of our business – John Ziegler” – Ric Nattress

1983 – “Mickey Mouse organization” – Wayne Gretzky / New Jersey Devils

1984 - "Drunk driving fatal accident" - Craig MacTavish - Added by MeHateHe

1984 - "Good Friday Massacre" - Québec Nordiques / Montreal Canadiens - Added by MXD


1984
– “No handshake, No Jersey” – Mario Lemieux / Pittsburgh Penguins

1985 - "Porsche + Alcohol = Bad combination" - Pelle Lindbergh - Added by Bear of Bad News

1986
– “Oilers flying high – Off the ice as well as on” - Sports Illustrated / Edmonton Oilers

1987 – “Quinngate” – Pat Quinn / John Ziegler / Los Angeles / Vancouver

1987 - "Punch-up in Piestany" - Canada / Soviet Union / NHL draft picks - Added by MeHateHe

1987 & 1988
– “Indecent exposure & stick attack” – Dino Ciccarelli

1988 – “Babysitter” – Doug Gilmour

1988 – “Have another donut” – Jim Schoenfeld / Don Koharski / Referees on strike

1988 – “Boston Garden Blackout” – Boston / Edmonton

1989 – “Slashed throat” – Clint Malarchuk

1990 – “Caps PR-disaster” – Dino Ciccarelli / Neil Sheehy / Geoff Courtnall & (Scott Stevens)

1991 – “No thanks !” - Eric Lindros / Quebec Nordiques

1992 – “Ambush marketing” – NHL vs Pepsi-Cola

1992 – “Selecting three ineligible players” – Mel Bridgman (GM) / Ottawa Senators

1992 – “10-day NHL Strike” – NHLPA vs NHL

1992 – “NHL loses pension suit” – Ex-NHL’ers vs NHL

1993 – “Late hit” – Dale Hunter / Pierre Turgeon

1993
– “Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors & Jail” – Bruce McNall

1993 – “Problem with Russian mafia” – Several Russian NHL-ers

1994 – “The Eagle have crashlanded” – Carl Brewer and others vs Alan Eagleson

1994
– “103-day lockout” – NHLPA vs NHL

1995 – “No Mas!” – Patrick Roy / Mario Tremblay / Ronald Corey

1995 – “He shoots, he scores !” – Brendan Shanahan / Craig Janney & Jeff Brown / Kirk McLean

1996 – “Predator” – Graham James

1996 – “Foxtrax” – Glowing puck

1996 – “Swindler” - John Spano / NY Islanders / NHL

1996 – “The hit” – Claude Lemieux / Kris Draper

1997 – “Hot under the collar” - Dominik Hasek / Jim Kelley / Ted Nolan

1997 – “Sex scandal comes to light” – Toronto Maple Leafs

1998 – “The party incident” - Mark Messier / Pavel Bure

1998 – “Going berserk in Japan” – Bill Guerin / Keith Tkachuk / Jeremy Roenick / Chris Chelios / Brett Hull / Doug Weight

1998 – “You said what?” – Bobby Hull

1999 – “No goal” – Dallas Stars / Buffalo Sabres / Gary Bettman / Bryan Lewis

1999 – “Assault in Chicago” – George McPhee vs Lorne Molleken

2000 – “P-tute and a pipe” – Kevin Stevens

2000 – “Casanova getting clocked” - Eric Lindros / Rod Brind’Amour / Rick Tocchet

2000 – “Lumberjack” – Marty McSorley / Donald Brashear

2001 – “9/11” – Garnet “Ace” Bailey / Mark Bavis / USA

2002 – “Freak accident” – Espen Knutsen / Young hockey fan

2003 – “Ferrari” – Danny Heatley / Dan Snyder

2004 – “Unprovoked attack” – Todd Bertuzzi / Steve Moore

2004 – “Murder for hire” – Mike Danton / Dave Frost

2004 – “Loans & Lawsuit” – Andy van Hellemond / Mark Faucette / NHL

2005 – “Season officially cancelled” – NHLPA vs NHL

2006 – “Operation Slapshot” – Rick Tocchet / Jeremy Roenick / Travis Green

2007 & 2008
- “E-mail controversy - There must be a way to get rid of this guy” – Colin Campbell / Dean Warren / NHL

2008
– “The Avery Rule & Sloppy Seconds” – Sean Avery

2009 – “Coyotes bankruptcy” – Phoenix Coyotes / Jerry Moyes / NHL

2009 – “20 cents” – Patrick Kane

2009 - "Management issues" - Len Barrie / Oren Koules / Tampa Bay Lightning - Added by MeHateHe

2010
– “The Guardian Project” – Stan Lee

2011 – “Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot” – Vancouver Canucks

2011 -“Nine former NHL’ers perish in plane crash” – Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

2011 - "Prescription drugs / Head trauma" - Derek Boogaard / Rick Rypien / Wade Belak - Added by Seventieslord

2012
– “Preventing team management from attending charity event” – Philadelphia Flyers / NHL

2012 – “Another Lockout” – NHLPA vs NHL

2013 – “Minus $113 million” – NHL / Phoenix Coyotes

2014 – “Line brawl” – John Tortorella / Bob Hartley

2014 – “Cup winner and one way ticket home” – Slava Voynov

2014 – “Federal witness & Betting” – Thomas Vanek / Nathan Paetsch

2015 – “There’s a lot of cocaine in the NHL” – Viktor Loov

2015 – “Las Vegas arrest” - Jarret Stoll

2015 – “Longest non-lifetime suspension in NHL history” – Raffi Torres

2016 – “All-Star controversy” – John Scott vs NHL

2016 – “Postponement due to poor ice condition” – Carolina Hurricanes

2018 – “Concussion settlement” – 318 ex-NHL’ers vs NHL