what i'd like to know is why are the refs just letting a 20 year old messier who hasn't proved anything in the league yet swing his stick like that at a two-time norris winning future hall of famer with a decade of respected service?
like, can you imagine them letting the young tkachuk swing his stick like that at ray bourque in 1993? or if matt tkachuk pulled that on chara today? the refs would tackle him right then and there and drag him off the ice before chara changes his mind and squishes him like a bug.
but as for the rest of the question, iirc messier had a reputation for being the strongest guy in the league. i remember early on in lindros' rookie year there was this quote from another player to the effect of "i thought mark messier was strong, but this lindros kid is unlike anything i could have imagined." i always found that odd, that it wasn't some giant like otto or hatcher, or a head smasher like probert, and this was a league that had a post-breakthrough gary roberts in it, peak kevin stevens, cam neely, all guys that were bigger, beefier guys than messier. but up to lindros, he was still the gold standard.
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