Team He Shoots.......He Scooooores!!!! is happy to add some size & grit at
Right Wing, as well as someone who can add some points on occasion,
Bob Probert.
From Wiki:
Probert was drafted as the 4th pick in the third round (46th overall) in the
1983 NHL Entry Draft, in which the Red Wings also selected Kocur and
Steve Yzerman.
During the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons, Probert spent the majority of his time with the Red Wings while occasionally playing for their minor league affiliate at the time, the
Adirondack Red Wings of the
American Hockey League. While he wasn't the most prolific pointmaker in the 1985-86 season, he finished third on the team in penalty minutes behind Kocur and
Randy Ladouceur, both of whom played more regular season games than Probert. In the 1986-87 season, Probert accumulated only 24 points, but amassed 221 penalty minutes.
The 1987-88 season saw Probert develop his fighting abilities and reputation as a tough guy with 398 penalty minutes. He also tied for third on the team in points with 62 (
Petr Klima also had 62 points). That season, Probert played in his first (and only)
NHL All-Star Game, and he contributed the most points during the Red Wings' playoff run, in which Yzerman missed all but the final three games with a knee injury.
Probert's career hit a snag in 1989 when he was arrested for
cocaine possession while crossing the Detroit-
Windsor border.
[2] He served three months in a federal prison in
Minnesota, three more months in a halfway house, and was indefinitely suspended from the NHL. The NHL lifted the suspension at the conclusion of his prison term.
[3]
When Probert returned to the Red Wings, he was temporarily one of the Alternate Captains of the team along with
Gerard Gallant. While his penalty minutes remained high, he also averaged 40 points a season. During his last season with the Red Wings, he accumulated 17 points for the team.
At this time, Probert was once again in trouble with the law. On
July 15,
1994, Probert suffered minor injuries when he crashed his motorcycle into a car while driving in
West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
Police determined that his
blood alcohol level was approximately triple the legal limit, and that there were also trace amounts of cocaine in his system.
[4] At the time of the accident, Probert had been ruled an unrestricted
free agent. On
July 19, the Red Wings announced that they would not offer a contract to Probert. "This is the end," said senior vice-president
Jim Devellano. "[In] my 12 years with the organization ... we've never spent more time on one player and his problems than we have on Probert."
Probert's first season with the Blackhawks was the last in which he accumulated over 40 points in a season. From then on, his points and penalty minutes gradually decreased. While he never returned to the levels of point production he achieved with the Red Wings, he remained a physical force on the ice and continued many long-term rivalries with other enforcers.
[5]
Probert also sustained various injuries during his time with the Blackhawks, most notably a torn
rotator cuff injury which caused him to miss most of the
1997-98 season.
[4] One of the more noteworthy occurrences of his career with Chicago is that he scored the final NHL goal at the historic
Maple Leaf Gardens on
February 13,
1999.
[6]
Fighting
Probert will always be remembered as one of the NHL's toughest players, in 16 NHL seasons he fought 285 NHL fights with a record of 176-50-59 and many enforcers considered him the toughest and most feared fighter in the NHL.
[1] Several web sites, such as
Hockeyfights.com, chronicle his long list of fights with other league enforcers. He saw it as his job to protect his teammates, especially Detroit captain Steve Yzerman. In a recent news story, he recalled a time that he sucker-punched enforcer
Kevin Maguire of the
Buffalo Sabres after Maguire pummelled Yzerman.
[7]
Some fights in Probert's career:
[5]- Two long fights with Craig Coxe of the Vancouver Canucks in the mid-1980s.
- A career-spanning series of battles with Tie Domi of the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Also Probert had a series of about 13 fights with enforcer Stu Grimson.
- A memorable fight on December 17, 1993 with former teammate Joe Kocur of the Rangers, during a brawl involving several players from both teams. Probert and Kocur had grabbed the nearest opposing player without realizing who it was, and continued trading punches even after they identified each other. Later on in Probert's Career, he would face Kocur a couple more times when he was with the Chicago Blackhawks.
- A fight on February 4, 1994, against Marty McSorley, then of the Pittsburgh Penguins, lasting nearly 100 seconds.
- A fight on December 11, 1993 in the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim's first ever game at the Joe Louis Arena against the Wings, Probert and Stu Grimson fought 6 seconds into the game. This is notable as many children were in attendance due to the popularity of the Mighty Ducks franchise thanks to the Mighty Ducks movie series.
In his career, Probert took part in many other classic hockey fights against noted enforcers such as
Todd Ewen,
Troy Crowder,
Tony Twist,
Donald Brashear,
Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson,
Bob McGill,
Dave Semenko, and
"Big" Jay Caufield.
NHL STATS
Regular Season:
935GP 162G 221A 384Pts 3,300PIMs
Playoffs:
81GP 16G 32A 48Pts 274PIMs
YouTube Goodies:
Probert vs McSorley
Probert beats on Domi
Probert & Kocur take on the Flames....(lol)