HATE/LOVE Players

PD-Hate/Love

This column is about guys you hate playing against but would love to have on your team. I pick my top three Hate/Love players. Sure every player that is good you don’t like when you’re playing against them but would love to have on your team, but I’m talking about guys that get under your skin, that you wish took a puck in the face and a stick to the balls. The guys you swear at the television. I’m not talking about guys who are so good like Zdeno Chara that you hate them or Milan Lucic who I admit I have a man crush on and am just jealous he’s not a Penguin because I yearn for a circa 1996 power forward. They just don’t make them like that anymore. I’m not talking about guys that only hurt your team. I’m talking about guys that hurt every team. Brad Marchand hurts every team , quite literally but I hate rats, and don’t want them on my team,  I was ecstatic Matt Cooke is in Minnesota.

Here are 4 guys that almost made the list. Wayne Simmonds of the Flyers. First obviously I hate every Flyer but most Flyers I would NEVER want on my team. Simmonds was an LA King  and learned to play hockey the right way not the Flyer way. Fact is Simmonds  is just a damn good player. The only thing I hate about him is he’s wears creamsicle orange . Daniel Briere the undersized forward for the Montreal Canadiens is a BIG game player. He may do nothing in the regular season but he will come up big in the spring. He’s a midget and he’s scores more garbage goals than guys twice his size. I loved him in Buffalo, hated him in Philly now he’ll probably kill me as a Canadien. Briere is too clutch to ever truly hate, he must be admired.  I could put Nathan Gerbe, on this list because he’s a poor man’s Briere , who never makes the playoffs, but I don’t want him on my team. I just hate that a little person can score so many goals in the crease and not get his head kicked in. If the Penguins were not up to their neck with offense defensemen I would put Montreal’s P K Subban in my top three. He’s a Norris trophy caliber D man whose chippy play has made him more than a few enemies in the league. But I’m SO sick of my D men ( especially Kris Letang) up ice , I just don’t want another freelancer on my team.

He’re’s my top three Hate /Love players. Micheal Grabner of the New York Islanders. He’s faster than the DPT when you’re meter runs out. He’s so fast every time he’s on the ice it becomes an odd man break because in two strides he’s in the play. If he’s hands were 1/8 as good as his wheels he’d be a fifty goal scorer. Even with mitts of stone I’d love to have him on my team. He’s a great penalty killer, not because he even plays defense but he’s so fast the opponent always has to be afraid of a shorthanded goal against. Why do I hate him and not just admire his speed, because you can’t relax when he’s on the ice and he cherry picks. Yes cherry picks !!!

2^nd on my list is Ottawa Senator tough guy Chris Neil. Chris Neil has a head made of cement. Earlier this year he took a puck to the face and didn’t miss a shift. He looks like one of those toys you need to pound on the head to score a goal or kick a field goal. He looks like his head was squeezed with a shoe horn into his helmet. Neil is infuriating because he’s like the Terminator , he just keeps coming at you.  You always have to know when he’s on the ice as well because he will bulldoze anyone. Hits like a freight train and usually clean. When you throw that made hits some will be on the edge He sticks up for his teammates and he takes on all comers, you don’t need a true goon on your team because he’ll fight any goon out there. . He can chip in a goal or two Neil’s probably the toughest guy in the league who can actually score when he tries too. Neil could have been in the movie Slap Shot but he is no joke

This leads me to my number one Hate/Love  guy Flyer’s winger Scott Hartnell. He is a great asshole. He gets under everyone skin. He cheap shots but not in the I’m gonna injure you way just the I’m a jerk off way. He’ll fight when he has too but not for without a good reason, for a Flyer he actually plays with intelligence. He stands RIGHT in front of the net and takes a beating. He has a nice shot and makes some slick passes. Hartnell is also loved by his teammates and is a locker room leader. As much as I despise him I would give him a piggy back ride then length of the PA turnpike if he wants to be Sid or Geno’s winger.