Yeah, but at the same time Maltby and Draper were both there and are not nearly as talked about as much as McCarty. His big draw is how he had such a hard fall and came back. Yeah, admirable, but his time in Detroit after his first stint is sorely overrated.
I know why they do it (fans eat it up), but I don't have to like it.
Given how many Avs actually openly admit how much that March 26 game and beating of Lemieux messed with their locker room it is a part why he gets a lot of credit. He was also a really accessible player back in his playing days. I mean Draper and Maltby hawked Fords to us, they were pretty loved, most of that team had rock star status.
Also keep in mind when we talk about the grind line, in those first two cups, McCarty was up the lineup, he wasn't with those guys most nights during the playoffs and regular season. He played a lot with Yzerman, Larionov, Sandström, Lapointe, Brown and Shanahan during that time period. The grind line back then was Draper, Maltby and Kocur. I think people forget he had a bigger role there too, just like later in his career his importance was over blown, before the drinking caught up, DMac was a little better player than I think he is remembered as being.
That couple months in 97 were pretty legendary, he beats up one of the biggest villains in Detroit sports history and scores the Cup clinching goal and a beauty at that ending the drought. Not hard to market that, through in his Windsor roots a lot of elements helped him take off, one of which was back then it looked like he was going to be a better hockey player than he truly ended up being.
On the topic at hand, of course like everyone else I am jacked to see Stevie put on the Winged-Wheel again, I guess something good did come out of that lockout.