Enforcers’ Image Issues
NHL’s most-feared are also the most isolated
On Feb. 11, the Islanders and Penguins were involved in a game that was marred by 346 penalty minutes and 10 ejections and resulted in a 10-game suspension for the Isles’ Trevor Gillies for a hit on Eric Tangradi. Afterward, former Islanders general manager Mike Milbury, now a TV analyst, said Gillies has no place in the game.
“People look at him and they see him fight or do what he does and they make assumptions,” Konopka said of his Islanders teammate. “This is a real human being, with real worries about his job and a wife and two kids. He’s doing what he does to keep his job, and people are saying he has no business being in the league. Like me, like Derek Boogaard, he fought every night in the East Coast League for $386 a week after taxes. We’ve worked hard to get where we are and people want to dismiss us as goons or thugs. It can be really, really tough.”
