The Canucks did not invent the chicane

Even though Elias Pettersson and JT Miller maintain that the supposed bickering between them is a complete fabrication, it is becoming increasingly difficult to believe them.

First, their captain Quinn Hughes publicly stated a few days ago that the situation could surely improve between his two teammates. Then, not a day goes by without us learning a new modality of their availability on the transaction market, even though they must form the core of this team.

Why did the situation come to this? The answer seems to lean toward a clash of personalities. Their former teammate Brad Richardson, who finished his career with the Canucks in 2022, suggested last week during his appearance on the podcast O’Brien’s Missin’ Curfew,that Miller had perhaps been too demanding of his younger teammate in the past, which created tension.

What is certain is that this is not the first time that two teammates have not gotten along. After all, no matter the environment, disagreements can arise between colleagues. But in the spectator sports industry, the public watches, and the media documents. Here are some teammate quarrels, known or less known, in the recent history of the NHL.

In Montreal

There is nothing a press boss fears more than not having a camera at Canadian training on the day when two teammates come to blows. This is a situation that occurs once every two or three years, to varying degrees.

Sometimes it makes more of an impression. This was the case in February 2006, when the team’s first two centers exchanged a few stick blows. Saku Koivu was the captain, and Mike Ribeiro, the young cock behind.

Quickly, two clans formed in the public, and we can imagine the same thing in the locker room. Especially since Ribeiro, José Théodore and Pierre Dagenais were nicknamed the Three Amigos at the time.

Later, Ribeiro said that it was Koivu himself who gave them this nickname. Many times after leaving Montreal he claimed that Koivu had a problem with him. The Finn never responded, while Ribeiro persisted and always signed.

In all likelihood, none of this would be unrelated to the transaction that sent Ribeiro to Dallas at the end of the 2006 season.

More recently, a lot was written about PK Subban when he played with the Canadian. According to some, everyone in the locker room was in conflict with the dynamic defender.

Here too, there was a bit of breaststroke in training with Brendan Gallagher. And here too is when one of them left [Subban à Nashville] that tongues are loosened.

After the first clash between the Predators and the CH following the transaction, at the microphones of journalists, Subban made fun of Gallagher’s size. After the second game between the two teams, Gallagher responded about Subban’s vanity.

Elsewhere

In 2011, when Jeremy Roenick had become a TV analyst, he blew the whistle on tensions in the locker room of the San Jose Sharks, where he finished his career.

During a game between the Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings in the second round of the playoffs, the American completely humiliated Patrick Marleau on the microphone, claiming that he had no heart and attacking with video replays.

In Roenick’s biography published the following year, he listed the 5 players he hated the most, and his former teammate Marleau was on it. In his book, he claims to have been poorly received at the Saskatchewanian’s home, where he had gone to discuss with him how he could improve his game.

More serious

In a much less trivial register, two stories attract attention. First, the recent one involving Erik Karlsson and Mike Hoffman, when both played for the Ottawa Senators.

Karlsson and his partner experienced tragedy in the spring of 2018 after losing their first child. A few weeks later, the star defender’s wife requested a protection order against Mike Hoffman’s girlfriend, in connection with a history of intimidation and harassment on the Internet.

The allegations suggested that Hoffman’s wife, Monika Caryk, posted hundreds of hateful messages, wishing for the death of the couple’s child, or serious injury to Karlsson.

Hoffman and his wife refuted the accusations and the attacker was traded a few days later. Three months later, it was Karlsson’s turn to leave Ottawa.

In podcast interview Coming In Hot with Wallace and YorkBobby Ryan, who was with the Senators at the same time as Karlsson and Hoffman, confided that there had been bickering in the wives’ box for several months when the events occurred.

Still according to Ryan, Karlsson and Hoffman limited their interactions and everyone was walking on eggshells in the locker room.

From “brothers” to enemies

Our latest chicanery has unparalleled geopolitical ramifications. In the fall of 1989, Slava Fetisov came to North America after defying government authorities in the former Soviet Union.

Before the courts, he was confirmed his right to sign a contract in the NHL and to join the New Jersey Devils, who had selected him in the draft 6 years earlier.

Before defying the government, Fetisov informed his coach Viktor Tikhonov of his intention to play in North America. Tikhonov responded by stripping him of the team’s captaincy, making up stories to tarnish his reputation, and isolating him from his teammates.

At that time, Fetisov patrolled the national team’s blue line along with Alexei Kasatonov. The two considered themselves brothers and shared everything, until the day Fetisov found himself ostracized. At that point, Kasatonov was the harshest of his teammates, lining up 100% behind the regime.

The two never reconciled, much less when Kasatonov came to join Fetisov in New Jersey later in that 1989-90 season. They played together for four years with the Devils, and their disagreement was known from day one, when Fetisov gave his first interview to the New Jersey media.

In still very rudimentary English, he gave an unequivocal answer to a question concerning the arrival of Kasatonov, which could be translated as follows: I’m not happy.

A phrase that we can surely still hear in some locker rooms today.