Scary Gary drops the gloves

by James Mirtle on Feb 23, 2009 12:16 AM CST Comment 10 comments

I'm not sure what's going on with the old buggers fighting players a decade or more their junior, but Gary Roberts dropped the gloves yesterday against Bruins defenceman Mark Stuart — who at age 24 is 18 years younger than the Lightning's grumpy old man:

Not bad, really. Stuart's a big guy at about 220 but this was only the eighth fight of his NHL career to this point. Roberts is just shy of 60. This follows fights by both Claude Lemieux and Brendan Shanahan, two of the games other elder statesmen, in the past couple of weeks.

The 20 oldest skaters in the NHL this season:

	Player	Tm	Age	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	TOI
1	Chelios	DET	47.08	20	0	0	0	3	12	12:05
2	Lemieux	SJS	43.61	13	0	1	1	-2	19	7:22
3	Roberts	TBL	42.76	27	4	2	6	-9	25	11:26
4	Recchi	TBL	41.06	59	13	25	38	-17	18	16:53
5	Numminen	BUF	40.64	53	2	13	15	-5	22	17:30
6	Shanahan	NJD	40.09	13	3	2	5	0	19	14:14
7	Richardson	OTT	39.92	2	0	0	0	-3	2	12:45
8	Schneider	MTL	39.70	47	6	12	18	-14	52	21:11
9	Sakic	COL	39.63	15	2	10	12	-6	6	18:06
10	Blake	SJS	39.21	55	9	28	37	21	89	21:32
11	Fedorov	WSH	39.20	33	6	17	23	12	30	16:34
12	Roenick	SJS	39.10	29	3	6	9	-1	22	10:19
13	Lidstrom	DET	38.83	57	12	32	44	23	22	25:02
14	Modano	DAL	38.72	58	14	23	37	2	32	18:22
15	Selanne	ANA	38.65	44	18	19	37	-7	16	16:24
16	Zubov	DAL	38.59	10	0	4	4	-4	0	24:17
17	Brind'Amour	CAR	38.54	59	8	22	30	-29	24	19:09
18	Hedican	ANA	38.54	49	1	5	6	-5	34	16:19
19	Guerin	NYI	38.29	59	16	19	35	-14	63	17:14
20	Lang	MTL	38.18	50	18	21	39	6	36	16:52

It's tough to be a major contributer at that age, but a lot of guys are doing it. Barring a trade deadline deal, bet on this being Roberts's swan song, however.

0 recs | Comment 10 comments | Add comment | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

That’s possibly one of the longer fights I’ve seen recently.

by hallock on Feb 23, 2009 12:56 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

calling Darryl Sutter...

…you need to get Gary Roberts back in Calgary for one last shot at Stanley!

by rich snake on Feb 23, 2009 6:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think he’d be good in a place like Calgary, or any contender really, that needs a guy to play like 9 minutes a night mainly to forecheck, hit defensemen and help wear them down.

Mr. Gary obviously still has the snarl to do so, but as always, the question is his health.

by Hooks Orpik on Feb 23, 2009 9:31 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I really can’t stand that Boston announcer.

Don't be afraid to take a few steps back, but you better keep moving forward.

by wlittle on Feb 23, 2009 7:25 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I call that one a draw. Maybe slight edge to Roberts as he hit on a few bombs.

by Afino on Feb 23, 2009 8:00 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I suppose once you make it on the list of 20 oldest the clock is certainly ticking down.

I would have guessed that Brind’amour would rank higher on this list.

I didn’t realize the Nick Lidstrom was now one of the 20 oldest. The guy never seems to get hurt or look tired. Absolutely amazing career.

by The Falconer on Feb 23, 2009 11:09 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Definitely an audition by Roberts for a deadline deal to a contender. Pretty good one at that.

http://puckreport.blogspot.com

by puckreport on Feb 23, 2009 12:45 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Chelios with only 12 PIMs? I had to do a double-take and make sure that wasn’t a typo. He’s become a choirboy in his advanced age. :D

I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.

by marky narc on Feb 23, 2009 1:01 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

He’s too old and tired to rack up 73 points and 282 PIMs like the good old days.

He and Lemieux are the only ‘86 vets left standing (and those two plus Roberts are the only guys with ’80s-vintage Cup rings period). That’s a hell of a thing.

by Doogie2K on Feb 23, 2009 1:57 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs