Famous NHL Insults

SI Staff | Oct 24, 2013

Famous NHL Insults

Derek Leung/Getty Images

The Montreal Canadiens' center gave the Edmonton Oilers some bulletin board material before a game on October 22, 2013 by saying of them, "With this team it can be anything. They play a bit like a junior team sometimes. They take a lot of risks and lots of chances. They are a little all over the place. There isn't a lot of structure in their game always." After the motivated Oilers won, 4-3, their coach, Dallas Eakins, responded with, "He might as well have sent me a fruit basket and a bottle of wine. ... We thank Lars Eller for his comments before the game. Awesome." Here are more famous zingers and insults from the world of the NHL...

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"Well, it's time they got their act together, folks. They're ruining the whole league. They had better stop running a Mickey Mouse organization and put somebody on ice." -- <italics>Oilers superstar about the woeful state of the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 19, 1983.</italics>

Lou Capozzola/SI

"Well, everyone talks about how classy or unclassy I am, and fatso there just forgot to shake my hand I guess. . . We outplayed him. I outplayed him. We're going to the second round." -- <italics>Rangers agitator about Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, with whom he had been feuding, after New York eliminated New Jersey in after Game 5 of the 2008 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.</italics>

Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

"For the colossal stupidity of what the Edmonton Oilers did this past summer ... If I had run my team into the sewer like that, I wouldn't throw a grenade at the other 29 teams and my own indirectly. So I have no intention of speaking to him any time soon." -- <italics>Ducks GM on Edmonton VP/GM Kevin Lowe after the Oilers gave Anaheim's Dustin Penner a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet in the summer of 2007.</italics> "We're going to take the three picks and given Kevin's recent performance, we expect them to be excellent picks." -- <italics>after declining to match Edmonton's offer to Penner.</italics>

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

"He's a moron first of all. He's in a pathetic hockey market where they can't get on any page of the newspaper, let alone the front page of the sports. This guy is an absolute media junkie. I guess he's achieving what he wants because he gets his name in the headlines, but the reality is I hate that my name is linked to his because he's an underachieving wannabe in terms of success in the NHL. He won a Stanley Cup. Great. I won six Stanley Cups. You want to count rings, I mean who cares? It's just a little pathetic that he carries on. Burke, he loves the limelight. He's all bluff and loud. [Oilers coach Craig MacTavish] said it best. He's like the Wizard of Oz. You pull the curtains away and there's not much substance." -- <italics>Edmonton VP/GM responding to verbal attacks from Anaheim GM Brian Burke.</italics>

Bob Frid/Icon SMI

"It's a cheap, dirty hit. I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars over there." -- <italics>Rangers coach in April 2012 on the Penguins' Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin after Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik leveled New York's Derek Stepan. Tortorella also called the Penguins an "arrogant organization."</italics> "You were probably beat up at the bus stop most of the time. Go stand somewhere else." -- <italics>To frequent media sparring partner Larry Brooks of the New York Post at a January 2010 news conference.</italics> "We suck and we suck at a time we can't suck." -- <italics>After his Rangers lost to the Buffalo Sabres.</italics>

Lou Capozzola/SI; Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images

"How would you like that guy operating on you with those hands?" -- <italics>Hockey Night in Canada</italics><italics> commentator on Oilers defenseman Randy Gregg, who was also a doctor, after Gregg shot and missed an open net.</italics>

Michael Tureski/Icon SMI

"Just wanted to send out big congrats to gary bettman on his 3rd consecutive work stoppage. Impressive stats for someone w no athletic skill" -- <italics>Maple Leafs defenseman via Twitter during the 2012 -13 NHL lockout.</italics>

Rich Frishman/SI; Rick Stewart/Getty Images, Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

"It's too bad he lives in the city. He's depriving some small village of a pretty good idiot." -- <italics>Islanders GM commenting on the agent for Ziggy Palffy (top inset).</italics> "The kid's playing like he's sniffing glue." -- <italics>On Islanders defenseman Eric Brewer (bottom inset).</italics>

David E. Klutho/SI

"If you've only got one day to live, come see the Toronto Maple Leafs. It'll seem like forever." -- <italics>Blackhawks broadcaster during a particularly boring game.</italics>

Tim DeFrisco/SI

"I can't hear what Jeremy says because I've got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears." -- <italics>Avalanche goaltender reacting to trash talk by Jeremy Roenick of the Blackhawks, who had yet to win a Cup.</italics>

Al Bello/Getty Images

After a playoff game against Boston on May 6, 1988, the then-Devils coach had a confrontation with referee Don Koharski, who accused Schoenfeld of bumping him: Schoenfeld: "You fell and you know it. You know you fell. I didn't touch you." Koharski: "You're gone. You're gone. And I hope it's on tape." Schoenfeld: "Good, 'cause you fell you fat pig. Have another doughnut."

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

"Bob Kelly was so dumb, they shoulda written his name on the Stanley Cup in crayon." -- <italics>Hall of Fame broadcaster commenting on his verbal sparring partner, a Flyers goon known by the nickname "The Hound."</italics>