Scary Gary hangs them up
by James Mirtle on Mar 6, 2009 12:43 PM CST
26 comments
Gary Roberts' NHL career is over.Unclaimed on waivers on trade deadline day, the 42-year-old veteran will not play another game with the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. He had already announced that he would retire at the end of this season.
A tough way for a great, great player to go out.
That Roberts is still playing at all this season, at age 42, is remarkable, and all the moreso if you consider that he originally retired due to injuries way back in 1996. He's played 11 seasons since that point, another 639 games, and had five 20-goal, 45-point campaigns.
In total, Roberts played 1,224 regular season games and had 438 goals and 909 points. He also took 14 trips to the playoffs, logging 130 games played and scoring 93 points. Roberts is 73rd in career games played, 60th in career goals (10th among active players), 88th in career points, 44th in career plus-minus, 18th in career PIMs and 38th in career even-strength goals.
He appeared in three all-star games and won the Masterton Trophy in 1995-96. Unfortunately, as McKenzie notes, he's a bit of a victim of a too generous contract the Lightning gave him in the off-season, and I wonder if someone would have claimed him on re-entry waivers if it would have come to that.
Roberts is one of only three NHLers to record 2,500 career PIMs and score more than 400 goals. The others are Pat Verbeek and current Lightning coach Rick Tocchet.
So long Scary Gary.
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He then punched retirement in the face and plans on playing another 3 years.
……right???
Shut up when you're talking to me!
by Afino on Mar 6, 2009 12:49 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
I agree with the picture: I don’t like Rozsival either. Sic ’em.
'Nucks Misconduct - Housing Swedish Millionaires Since 2000.
by Yankee Canuck on Mar 6, 2009 12:57 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
I really wish this post would have came back in June on the heels of a Stanley Cup win.
Regardless, a great career, especially considering it should have been done in the mid-90s if Roberts wasn’t such a maniac.
Now, my friends, the eternal question—-Gary Roberts, hall of famer?
1224 games played
438 goals
471 assists
2560 penalty minutes
3 time all-star
93 points in 130 playoff games
1 Stanley Cup
by Hooks Orpik on Mar 6, 2009 1:04 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
doubtful, but i’m sure his jersey will be honoured in toronto in a few years…
by no ah on Mar 6, 2009 1:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Cam Neely got in (deservedly IMO) a lot on sentiment since he never got the final career stats….Neely was a more impactful player in his prime (and cracked the 50 goal plateau 3 times to Roberts’ 1) but at the end he had a .96 points/game ratio and a 1.71 PIMs/game.
Roberts finishes with .74 points/game and 2.09 PIMs/game in a NHL career that was 40% longer.
Another measure of Gary’s longetivity: he’s just one year younger than Neely is.
by Hooks Orpik on Mar 6, 2009 1:15 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
nah, not a hall of famer. pretty impressive for a power forward to play that long though, especially with the back/neck issues.
by Make a play Whitner on Mar 6, 2009 1:11 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
You’re probably right. I’m surprised how many people are saying yes.
by James Mirtle on Mar 6, 2009 5:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
True
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llWnBfoRfwQ , will be missed.
by Ghwomb on Mar 7, 2009 3:37 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
It’s too bad that he didn’t get thrown in that $450,000 4th round pick deal, just so he could at least finish the season in front of an appreciative audience. He’s retiring now, rather than at the end of the regular season, only because Tampa needs to pay him a $10,000 bonus each game he plays, and they were going to sit him out the rest of the way as a result.
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
by saskhab on Mar 6, 2009 2:56 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, that’s a good point. The Leafs fans would love him, too.
by James Mirtle on Mar 6, 2009 3:00 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
That was my first thought, I wonder why the Leafs didn’t do that.
Down Goes Brown - Unapologetically nostalgic for the past. Brutally realistic about the present. Grudgingly optimistic about the future.
by Down Goes Brown on Mar 6, 2009 3:04 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
So now we’re feeling sorry for the guy because he’s getting paid to not work?
I don’t think so.
If Gary Roberts wants to play, he can negotiate a mutually agreeable buyout with the Lightning and agree to play for as little as it takes for a contender to sign him.
by Dr Van Nostrum on Mar 6, 2009 6:40 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
That’s not how buyouts work in the NHL. Appreciate the condescension though.
Tampa’s looking to cut costs any way they can, and given Roberts’s bonus structure, they’ll just park him in the press box the rest of the year. He gets an extra $10k for every game he plays.
by James Mirtle on Mar 6, 2009 9:25 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
If Gary Roberts wants to play, he can negotiate a mutually agreeable buyout with the Lightning and agree to play for as little as it takes for a contender to sign him.
The CBA probably prohibits that.
"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams
by Baroque on Mar 6, 2009 7:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
It definitely prohibits that. But then, ignorance never stops certain commenters from using the Internet to sneer and act superior.
I've been looking at the sky
by Back In Black on Mar 6, 2009 9:26 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
I do wonder why they would not buy him out for the remaining two-thirds. I assume that his bonus is structured so that if they do buy him out, he is deemed to have earned the bonus. Otherwise it would be too easy to get out of the bonus. I mean, they are getting out of it now, but at least he receives his full salary.
I am not sure if the CBA prohibits it though.
by Gerald on Mar 7, 2009 10:53 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Oh, and...
…a warning for this: “So now we’re feeling sorry for the guy because he’s getting paid to not work?”
You’re getting a little self-important.
Related to the guy?
by Dr Van Nostrum on Mar 7, 2009 12:50 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
I’m looking for something resembling intelligent discussion here and you seem more interested in heckling everyone. Unintelligently.
Call Roberts a bum all you want, but enough with pretending everyone here isn’t fit for your genius. Your solution for Roberts continuing his career is complete nonsense.
This is not an unmoderated forum.
by James Mirtle on Mar 7, 2009 1:08 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
middle ground
I don’t think anyone’s feeling sorry for Gary here. I think what James is getting at is that Roberts has had an great career-I mean until recently he made any team he played on better, consistently leaving everything on the ice, leading by example, etc.-and to see him just sit out the last few games of his career to avoid bonus payments just isn’t the ending many of us would like to see.
In a sense that’s just life but to some of us it still sucks.
by yrmom on Mar 7, 2009 9:05 AM CST reply actions 0 recs
Sympathy isn’t a binary issue. It comes in different amounts for different situations.
I feel a great deal of sympathy for someone who loses a job and has no paycheck and is suffering, slightly less for someone who is getting a regular paycheck, but doesn’t much like their job because they are still lucky to have one.
I feel a little bit of sympathy for a man who, although old as a hockey player, is still relatively young, and essentially is told, sure, you’ll get your money, but you won’t be able to perform the job you enjoy for us or anyone else because we choose not to pay you any more than you would get if you sit on your butt instead of playing.
It hardly rises to the level of Greek tragedy, but it is a bummer.
"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams
by Baroque on Mar 7, 2009 9:10 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Thanks. I have my moments. :)
"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams
by Baroque on Mar 7, 2009 11:50 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs
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