Paul Stewart: One Hull of a Life

Great blog.

I second that!

I’m trying to reconcile this blog with the one on Provorov and Pride Night and failing miserably.

Sorry, no tears for this wife beater. This guy should have been thrown into the sin bin known as "jail".

Once again, tone deaf commentary from someone who was a lousy referee.

I’m trying to reconcile this blog with the one on Provorov and Pride Night and failing miserably.
- Quetzalcoatl

You sign a contract, you're a PRO. Every single one of your teammates -- all but you -- comply with a pretty easy ask. Who is out of line? Look in the mirror.

You skate or you don't. If you don't skate in the warmup when you aren't injured or sick, have the stones to sit out the game, too. If club policy runs so strongly counter to your beliefs, ask for a trade or quit.

Like pretty much every official, I didn't like it when the NHL took our names off our sweaters and made is wear only a number. I hated it, in fact. But our choices -- and we had a choice -- were do it or quit. I did what I was told... just as everyone else did.

If Provorov was willing to die on the hill of not wearing the same warmup sweater for 15 minutes as every one of his teammates -- including a couple of very religious/evangelical teammates and at least one teammate who is openly of MAGA leanings -- he had every right to miss the game, too.

As for the bigger picture here, there's nothing to "reconcile".

I suspect you hated the blog I did that was critical of Tim Thomas refusing to join his Bruins teammates at the White House after their Stanley Cup in 2011 because he hated Obama. But you probably liked when I criticized Braden Holtby for refusing the post-2018 Cup invitation to the White House because of his enmity for Trump. Yet my reasoning was the exact same in both cases. I made crystal clear that it was all about being a teammate and had nothing to do with political aligments. Yet the comments section on both blogs -- and the Provorov one most recently --- were filled with people standing on a political soap box and projecting that's what I was doing.

In EVERY case here, I said personal politics have nothing to do with such matters. You are a member of a team. Represent your team. No one is forcing you to endorse a political candidate or support/oppose a policy or law. Don't shake the President's hand. Just be there for and with your team.

I'm 100 percent consistent in my beliefs in such matters. End of story.

You sign a contract, you're a PRO. Every single one of your teammates -- all but you -- comply with a pretty easy ask. Who is out of line? Look in the mirror.

You skate or you don't. If you don't skate in the warmup when you aren't injured or sick, have the stones to sit out the game, too. If club policy runs so strongly counter to your beliefs, ask for a trade or quit.

Like pretty much every official, I didn't like it when the NHL took our names off our sweaters and made is wear only a number. I hated it, in fact. But our choices -- and we had a choice -- were do it or quit. I did what I was told... just as everyone else did.

If Provorov was willing to die on the hill of not wearing the same warmup sweater for 15 minutes as every one of his teammates -- including a couple of very religious/evangelical teammates and at least one teammate who is openly of MAGA leanings -- he had every right to miss the game, too.

As for the bigger picture here, there's nothing to "reconcile".

I suspect you hated the blog I did that was critical of Tim Thomas refusing to join his Bruins teammates at the White House after their Stanley Cup in 2011 because he hated Obama. But you probably liked when I criticized Braden Holtby for refusing the post-2018 Cup invitation to the White House because of his enmity for Trump. Yet my reasoning was the exact same in both cases. I made crystal clear that it was all about being a teammate and had nothing to do with political aligments. Yet the comments section on both blogs -- and the Provorov one most recently --- were filled with people standing on a political soap box and projecting that's what I was doing.

In EVERY case here, I said personal politics have nothing to do with such matters. You are a member of a team. Represent your team. No one is forcing you to endorse a political candidate or support/oppose a policy or law. Don't shake the President's hand. Just be there for and with your team.

I'm 100 percent consistent in my beliefs in such matters. End of story.
- Paul Stewart

My comment had absolutely nothing to do with politics, or religion for that matter. I was questioning how you can write such a positive blog about a repeat offender wife beater (with just a minor caveat about imperfection) but in the prior blog eviscerate someone for skipping warmups.

I couldn’t care less about Holtby or Thomas skipping the White House visit, either. The fact that you do, but don’t seem to care much about spousal abuse, speaks volumes.

A prior poster nailed it. You’re completely tone deaf, and at this point likely a lost cause.

What a nice blog about the Golden Jet. My family had season tickets while he played in Chicago. It was fun and exciting to watch him play. He was worth the price of admission. He was hockey's answer to Mickey Mantle. In later years I was lucky enough to meet him and talk hockey.

I am not going to rehash all his faults we all know what they are. They said he never paid for his sins but, he did. He lost his family and his way of life and had to do all those public appearances to make a living. His son Brett didn't want him around during Brett's glory years in St. Louis.

Those of you who have children and grand children try to imagine what it would be like if they didn't want to have anything to do with you. I know I am the father of three and have been blessed with three grand children and with out them in my life it would be a really sad life. They are my reason for living.

Love him or hate him he was one helluva hockey player.

Great blog.
- atc

I have to take that at least partially back, I'm not from Canada/USA so I wasn't aware of his many off-ice issues.

It does seem weird to *completely* ignore them.

Look, Bobby Hull was a terrible husband. He had a problem with alcohol that led to his horrible behavior. We all get that. His ego was probably too big for his head. His wives had avenues open to them that they chose not to use. But Bobby Hull was a giant in the hockey world, and for most people, including myself growing up, it was the only world they knew. I have two Hull jerseys. A #9 and a #16 that were autographed. I honor the hockey man, not the husband.