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Boobs, Pesa' you guys both make good points. I wouldn't say BW dominated legends..but he sure beat them. Not all the guys in that era..certainly. Playfair wasn't on his card , nor was Nystrom. LP was a d-man and stay at home one, and Thor and BW had a healthy respect for each other from the gms I saw them play vs each other. Both were players first, Thor a bit more aggressive gm in and gm out, while BW took whole nights off where you wouldn't even know he was there. You gotta remember he was a 1st rd draft pick, contender for the Rookie of the year and if anyone can recall his gm , he was not overly aggressive ..it would be peaks and valleys of nastiness..no consistent fury. Sometimes he'd play like he woke up on the wrong side off the bed, but it was infrequent. He was an elitist, felt he was superior in every way to his peers - which ironically lead to his underachieving IMO. It caused him to make huge mistakes in his own zone and got the PHI fans on his case. Although he cleaned up his act in CHI somewhat, as I was going through a Beta tape last week I saw a Playoff HL in CHI (vs MIN)where Behn is backing in his zone carelessly after a loose puck while Plett gives chase- the puck hops over BW stick goes right to Plett and Plett scores the gm winner !!! This was classic BW..AT TIMES. The crowd I'm sure was furious at BW.
Fotiu's card was terrible, but it wasn't that he was picking spots- except in 2 occasions (LP and Semenko ) I never saw NF play a calm gm ..he was usually running anything in his few appearances on the ice. But NF liked it that way ...he didn't want to fight ..he wanted to intimidate ..and he was one of the best at it. No question. It a testimony to the era he played in (his poor card) where rep was everything, but even in his later yrs in CAL ( when the HW arms race was heating up ) NF still commanded respect...you knew he was a veteran HW and if you wanted to go out of your way to fight him ..he was there...he just rarely started it. Again, I hated Fotiu ..just calling like it is. It pissed me off how much he got away with... no one seemed to deal with him. Maybe they just saw him as a clown , a sideshow act..but for whatever reason he didn't get many dance partners..which was fine with him. Who knows, in his warped mind he probably felt that he didn't want to hurt anyone..which would explain his quick fight style- throw a few quickies and spin the guy to the ice.
On a side note : I have BW edging Jonathan, drawing Wensink and NF - he outpunched both- but Wensink saved a loss with the last 2 lefts which were more pushes than punches and NF landed that right at the end..possibly the best punch of the fight although BW saw it coming and recoiled to take away impact. Wouldn't argue with anyone had it for NF. Just watch the fight with no NY homer announcer sound..count the punches thrown and landed..you may be surprised.
Now Marty Mac.... fought anything that moved in his rookie season...and would've waded right through Fotiu...which probably would've been a mistake of inexperience. As a more seasoned battler..he said on Don Cherry's Grapevine when asked about said incident with Fotiu ' With an experienced guy like Nicky you can't just jump in, you could get hurt'.
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