Mark Messier is one of my favorite players of all time, but there are definitely some things about him that I do not care for.
Messier was a straight up nasty competitor and would do anything it took to win. Not tough as a fighter, but he played a rough and tumble game. Maybe the most ruthless superstar to ever play the game in terms of his questionable tactics. He was the type of guy who used a brutal cheap shot to send a "win at all costs" message to other teams, it was his brand of intimidation. Did he not drop
Doug Wilson with a brutal shot in the playoffs in the late 80's? I seem to recall that although I haven't been able to find the clip.
Whenever I read about how
Gordie Howe played it always reminds me of Messier, anyone who has seen Gordie would you say that they are comparable? Both major superstars who lead their clubs, would get nasty with the elbows and are overrated in the fighting department?
Here's a Messier cheap shot that was straight up brutal:
How many games would he get for that in today's NHL?
I always liked Messier, super talented, great leader etc. but I definitely would have liked to have seen him back more of these antics up with his fists. Seems like a bad guy in a movie he gets his hired goons to hold a guy so he can punch them.
The one thing that really stuck in my craw about Messier in recent years is the fact that he tried to capitalize in business by exploiting the trend of head shots through his Messier Project with the hockey helmet he endorses to prevent concussions.
http://www.cascadeicehockey.com/theepidemic/
This guy probably caused more concussions than his helmets will prevent
Kind of like Nilan going around trying to capitalize on the anti bullying trend right now. I'm not against a guy making money but it seems hypocritical coming from Messier.