Players who functioned as "Shadows"

SealsFan

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May 3, 2009
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I was re-reading the Bobby Hull coffee table book and there was a pic of him bloodied, courtesy of John Ferguson. In the caption, Hull mentions some of the players assigned to "shadow" him; he respected Bob Nevin, Ed Westfall and Claude Provost, but not Ferguson or Bugsy Watson for their dirty play.

Who are some other players in history who functioned as shadows against star players? I sort of remember Jerry Butler of the Rangers having this role in the 70's but can't recall against who.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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keith acton, ken linseman, steve kasper was always on gretzky, tikkanen as previously mentioned was one of the best, we've seen zetterberg play that role at times in the playoffs.

among d-men, i remember alexei zhitnik following bure around the ice in the '93 playoffs to great success. and mattias norstrom on peter forsberg the year he ruptured his spleen.
 

copperandblue

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Esa Tikkanen was one of the best in the 80's.

One of the best ever 'shadow' stories ever is from either the '89 or '90 playoffs when the Oilers were playing LA.

Sather gave Tikkanen instructions not to let Gretzky leave his side - or something to that effect - so he took it to heart and on their first morning the teams were in LA together Gretzky woke up, went into his kitchen, and found Tikkanen eating cereal at his kitchen table with Janet.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

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Do "shadows" even still exist? I mean Zetterberg "shadowed" Crosby but Zetterberg was also the Wings' top scorer and Crosby shadowed him as much as Zetterberg shadowed Crosby. Nowadays teams quite commonly match their top six forwards against the other team's top six forwards. The days where you'd leave the opponents' superstar to your third line seem to be mostly over.
 

JaymzB

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Apr 8, 2003
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Reggie Houle did an excellent job shadowing Hull in the 71 finals, limiting him to only 1 EV goal in 7 games (though I'm inclined to believe Henri Richard had a lot to do with that as well).
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Do "shadows" even still exist? I mean Zetterberg "shadowed" Crosby but Zetterberg was also the Wings' top scorer and Crosby shadowed him as much as Zetterberg shadowed Crosby. Nowadays teams quite commonly match their top six forwards against the other team's top six forwards. The days where you'd leave the opponents' superstar to your third line seem to be mostly over.

i think it's rarer to see shadows that hang on to a guy all game and tug at them, chirp at them, etc. the way tikkanen or kasper did to gretzky. but you do still see third liners "assigned" to star players. i'm sure if malhotra wasn't injured, he'd see a lot of time out there with joe thornton. i know the sedins have seen a lot of dave bolland the last couple of years.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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Jay Pandolfo on Jaromir Jagr for a few years after the lockout.

Claude Lemieux always got under Cam Neely's skin, most famously in the 1995 playoffs.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

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i think it's rarer to see shadows that hang on to a guy all game and tug at them, chirp at them, etc. the way tikkanen or kasper did to gretzky. but you do still see third liners "assigned" to star players. i'm sure if malhotra wasn't injured, he'd see a lot of time out there with joe thornton. i know the sedins have seen a lot of dave bolland the last couple of years.

Well, the Canucks seem to match the Thornton/Marleau line against Raymond/Kesler/Higgins which is their 2nd line I think.

There's definitely still a few "specialists" but it seems to be getting rarer and rarer. Maybe the simple reality is that a) with a salary cap in place teams can't really afford good enough third lines anymore to contain elite players and b) the majority of teams seem to expect good two way play from their star forwards as well today.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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Michael Peca was a very good shutdown man with Buffalo. Won a couple of Selkes.

John Madden was another good one.

I don't think Madden was ever used as a traditional shadow, though he was obviously matchup up against the beat centers of other teams.

Never heard of Peca shadowing anyone either, but I could be wrongabout this one
 

Noldo

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In 2003 world championship in Finland, I remember watching with great delight during Sweden - Canada game (preliminary round), how every time Peter Forsberg step on the ice, Kris Draper was in few seconds right next to him, following Forsberg around the ice.

Sweden even had last change in that game, but Canada was ready and willing to change on fly, Draper always following Forsberg to ice.
 

Padan

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Aug 16, 2006
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Richard Matvichuk was sticked to Forsberg during the '99 and '00 Conference Finals.
 

tarheelhockey

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Was Claude Lemieux used as a shadow? I remember him getting under opponents' skin but can't recall if it was based on 1-on-1 coverage or just his general assholishness.
 

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