My Two Cents on Jack Adams

[Al Bundy*]

When it comes to bad owners, Ballard and Wirtz seem to get all the attention, but I think there was another owner of an Original 6 team who was just as heartless, if not worse: Jack Adams. He's no angel, but it seems that his heartlessness and negatives gets overshadowed.

I am NOT criticizing the things he did right, but he was NOT a nice guy, if not another heartless ***** owner.

Consider the following:

This quote of the Richard Riot:

"I blame the media for what's happened. You've turned Richard into an idol, a man whose suspension can turn hockey fans into shrieking idiots."

His decision to trade Lindsay and Hall as a result of the original NHLPA and other thigs related to it: talk about blowing a gasket over something like that.

IMO, if that occured with today's technology and society, would Wings fans react towards Adams the way Oiler fans reacted to Pockington after the Gretzky trade?

I remember hearing that his Red Wing playerss were poorly paid and that, according to one of Gordie Howe's books, a teammate of his was sleeping in a car because he was so badly underpaid. (Talk about not having a heart)

He seemed to be hellbent on taking the Red Wings apart because he considered them "Traitors," almost as if he wanted to take them apart.

I know he was a great hockey man, but he seemed to have a horrible chip on his shoulder.

IMO, he was as bad as Ballard and Wirtz... possibly, potentially, even worse!

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[FissionFire]

Jack Adams was never an owner. He was the coach/GM. The Norris family, and specificaly Bruce Norris, were the owners and just as complicit in much of it. Read my post on Ted Lindsay on page 2 of the Round 2, Vote 4 thread to get an idea of just a small bit of the crap the Norris family and their stooge Adams pulled.

 

[Big Phil]

Adams really tore apart the Red Wings. It would be interesting to see how those Wings do if they arent torn apart after 1955. Sawchuk is traded that year, Lindsay in '57 for trying to start a players union, and then Kelly in '59. He was just an example of how owners were at that time, but he was worse for sure. We often consider these men pioneers, and they were in a way, because we name trophies after them and at one time divisions as well. The Jack Adams trophy is a great one to win, but it's named after a tyrant