Each of those guys you mention are warriors, and play the game the way it was intended. But I've never seen a more consistently physical first line star. (Gordie Howe was before my time.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwkJcwa3OKo
Check out minutes 1:00 – 2:00. It will give you an idea of his hitting nightly. And, as you will see, he didn’t pick on the lesser players – here knocking #99 and Bobby Clarke on their butts.
Or, if you have two minutes, watch this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhb4KL52_RQ
The hit at 1:07, though it would be deemed a penalty in today’s NHL, is a thing of beauty.
No exaggeration: The guy brought this level of physical play to each game.
Truer words never spoken.
From a recent
Hockey News interview:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/26501-Getting-To-Know-Bryan-Trottier.html
Greatest Sports Moment: "When Bobby Nystrom scored the overtime goal against Philadelphia (to clinch the Stanley Cup in 1980). When I became a champion for the first time....
Most Painful Moment: "Never really had a physical pain during the game. Emotionally – it was when we lost the Cup to Edmonton in 1984.
Here's a guy who scored more than 500 goals, at the time he retired was among the top 15 players ever in scoring, won the Calder, Hart Art Ross and Conn Smyth Trophies....and not a word about any of that.
Team and Cups.
The
only thing that matters.