The end of an era for goons.

[bduff54]

With Rob Ray retiring a few years ago and Tie Domi officially retiring yesterday i think we may have seen the last of the real goon type players.

Do you guys think we will ever see guys like that have 15 year careers again?

[GG8407]

You can probably make the argument for Oliwa, although I doubt he will have a long career.

[bduff54]

yeah Oliwa has been around awhile but he is not really a regular in the lineup i don't think. ray and Domi would play almost every game for their team. Jody Shelley has been around for a few years too.

[anEinherjer]

Tie Domi's a wang. Nice tie in to the Sabres' page with the reference to Razor.

[bduff54]

it's not just a reference man, i really think that those guys will be the last memorable enforcers. they had long careers and were in the lineup everynight. Domi may be a wang but he had a great career for somebody with limited ability. He is now on TSN, that should be funny.

[Oasis]

ESPN News did a good piece on Domi last night. Domi was being interviewed by the ESPN guys. They actually had Razor call in and share his thoughts on Domi's career and retirement. During the segment, they showed a number of Ray v. Domi fights--awesome! Domi and Ray were pretty funny during the segment. They each ripped each other a bit. The best line, Domi said he will look better on TV because he is not as "chubby" as Razor and TSN wont need to do "tight" shots with the camera. End of an era...

Here is the video. It has been edited down (no fight clips or the "chubby" comment). However, worth the time. Razor and Domi talking about the old days. The video is next to the text of the story on ESPN. Just click play.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2594507

[bduff54]

that's awesome oasis, thanks a lot man.

It's nice to see a guy just being a nice guy and not trying to start a fight. 95% of our member are good guys like yourself.

[DropTheGloves]

Yeah, I seriously doubt we'll see players that can only fight in the NHL these days. You have to have some skill and a scoring touch along with toughness(see Mair/Goose).

[TMR2006]

Yeah, I seriously doubt we'll see players that can only fight in the NHL these days. You have to have some skill and a scoring touch along with toughness(see Mair/Goose).

Kind of makes me sad, I used to really enjoy the antics of Stu Grimson or Rob Ray type enforcers. I can't help but think with the new rules there is really no room for that kind of a player...

[Hockeystud1414]

With Rob Ray retiring a few years ago and Tie Domi officially retiring yesterday i think we may have seen the last of the real goon type players.

Do you guys think we will ever see guys like that have 15 year careers again?

yeah I'd probably have to agree with ya. guys who can just fight will be gone, the goon is gone. But the enforcer to me is different. I define Enforcer as someone WHO can play and fight anybody, and protect their key players. No reason to get rid of that at all. But I do agree with ya for the most part.