Speculation: Darcy tucker. Never happen again but hilarious. I miss real nasty hockey some days .

[luvdahattymatty]

Gramps here. Loved Tuck he was all about team. He is one of last of old time hockey players. If he had another 4 inches of height and 50 lbs of weight he would have been a real force. But give him credit he went toe to toe with the big boys and withstood a lot of blows.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

Our Leafs could use a Darcy Tucker type player right now IMHO. Darcy could play some hockey by scoring goals, hitting and throwing punches when necessary. That's something we could use on Matthews wing.

Kadri sort of fills that role.

There a lot of similarities. They’re both a bit smaller. Both absolutely piss off the other team. Both are willing to drop the gloves. Both are not too shabby on the score sheet.

 

[nuck]

How is it possible that having Tucker on the team didn’t prevent this from happening? Isn’t that the point of having someone like him?

He was an instigator rather than an enforcer. If you believe in the idea of deterrence by intimidation, he was never that guy, too small. The clubs that had that intimidation factor like Philly always seemed to, usually had a bunch of big bangers in their lineup. Their little guys played bigger because there was always backup on the ice. Having the "nuke" on the bench like MacIntyre or Boogard never did much because they mostly just fought each other and couldn't catch the skilled guys to hit them. Today they would just be piling up suspensions and not scaring anybody. I think Tucker would be fine in today's game, but he would have to tone it down. Players would always be aware of him on the ice, so he would be effective, but with suspensions so easily handed out now his game would lose some of its teeth.

 

[fahad203]

Kadri sort of fills that role.

There a lot of similarities. They’re both a bit smaller. Both absolutely piss off the other team. Both are willing to drop the gloves. Both are not too shabby on the score sheet.

Kadri is no where near Tucker. Tucker didn't piss anyone off, he instilled fear in you. There's a difference
Tucker also backed it up with fights.

I started to dislike Tucker in his later years but man he gave you swag during his tenure. Nobody pushed the Leafs around.

Not just that Leafs hockey, but I miss that hockey.

 

[LeafChief]

Who in the NHL is today's version of a Darcy Tucker? Max Domi?

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Tucker reminds me of how I've changed as a hockey fan. When I was younger, I couldn't stop watching his hit on Kapanen. Now, I can't stand to watch it. It kinda makes me sick. Real unfortunate result.

I liked Tucker though. He was a bit of a rat, but the guy would bleed for anyone on his team.

 

[The Examiner]

Greatest Leaf Ever, AINEC!

He was amazing especially considering he was the smallest guy on the ice, 99% of the time.

 

[Jmo89]

How is it possible that having Tucker on the team didn’t prevent this from happening? Isn’t that the point of having someone like him?

Tucker was injured when that happened. In fact, the team was so cowardly that they did nothing while Kaberle laid on the ice, and Tucker nearly came onto the ice in street clothes as he was screaming at Jansen from the area where the players leave the ice.

As an above poster said, Tucker wasn't really an enforcer. He was a crazy grit and skill player, but Jansen would have paid that game if Tucker wasn't injured.

 

[TheProspector]

Tucker was fun to watch, but we frankly had a better player in the same mould -- Clarke Macarthur. Tucker looked much better than he did because of that sick backdoor pass that Wellwood would feed to him on the PP which was basically a NHL cheat code. He was actually a poor defensive player, and not that good offensively without someone feeding him backdoor PP passes.

But, yeah, there's nobody on the team, and maybe in the league, like Tucker any longer. And there probably hasn't been a guy who nearly literally bled blue & white like Tucker in most of our lifetimes. The utter fearlessness and disregard for his personal safety is something that just doesn't exist today. And he answered practically every single bell for every hit he laid... whether he was likely to win the fight or not.

 

[Nizdizzle]

Who in the NHL is today's version of a Darcy Tucker? Max Domi?

Doesn't exist, IMO.

 

[daveleaf]

Darcy Tucker is exactly the player we need on this team today. You guys can say all you want, the team that finds a few players that can play and drop the gloves and hits, will be Stanley Cup Champions.

 

[Eddo22]

Loved how he ran over Chara. Would like to see a Leafs player on this team do that.

 

[Raging Bull]

While we all know what happened it the moments proceeding, the hit he laid on Sami Kapanen in the 2004 EQSF was the biggest, loudest I've ever seen.

 

[Dough72]

You sure? The video is of full of players of other teams running him and his teammates then wrestling after. No one seems all that afraid.

clearly did not follow the NHL until recently

 

[Al14]

Kadri sort of fills that role.

There a lot of similarities. They’re both a bit smaller. Both absolutely piss off the other team. Both are willing to drop the gloves. Both are not too shabby on the score sheet.

Kadri is not feared as much as Tucker was!

 

[Dough72]

I get why they needed to remove a lot of that stuff from the game, but can't say that it wasn't more entertaining. Seeing players that hated each other so much added so much passion to the game.

I don't think many who watched both eras would argue otherwise. I watched a lot of games at pubs back then and whenever there was a fight everyone would stop whatever they were doing and watch. When it was over they would go back to barely paying attention to the game.

 

[Dough72]

Kadri is not feared as much as Tucker was!

Kadri would be a softie for back then and especially earlier in the 80s. He'd be the guy Wendel protected.

 

[Nineteen67]

I don't think many who watched both eras would argue otherwise. I watched a lot of games at pubs back then and whenever there was a fight everyone would stop whatever they were doing and watch. When it was over they would go back to barely paying attention to the game.

Recently, my wife asked me if I was watching the Leafs this year because I rarely, if ever, get excited and holler at the TV like I used to when the Leafs were fun to watch.

 

[Nineteen67]

Kadri would be a softie for back then and especially earlier in the 80s. He'd be the guy Wendel protected.

He wouldn’t have played junior.

 

[tom leafers]

i love how all the clips from the late 1990's, early 2000's looks like they were filmed on potatoes

 

[Al14]

Kadri would be a softie for back then and especially earlier in the 80s. He'd be the guy Wendel protected.

Exactly correct!

 

[Leafs1993]

Love Darcy Tucker, such a beast. what a great video thanks for sharing

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Oh yea that’s why. Shouldn’t they fear for their life in a retaliation fight though. Such romance

Tucker was our middle weight 180 pound guy. He was only small lol

 

[Whaleafs]

Won't be a popular take at all, but I think Darcy Tucker is up there on the most overrated Leafs players of my generation. To me he just represents an era of mediocrity where fans adored grit, effort, and 'truculence', over skill. Don't get me wrong, he brought a rare combination of those qualities along with 20+ goals pretty consistently, but it was more the love he received by this city and how he could do absolutely no wrong that rubbed me the wrong way. Mats deserved better line-mates during his time here - needed more skill players and less Darcy Tuckers imho.

Not sure how Tucker “represents an era of mediocrity” when Sundin was there for that exact same era from ‘99-‘00 onwards. Including the ‘02 conference final. Shouldn’t the buck stop with Sundin or can he do no wrong ?

 

[Darcy Tucker]