The NHL will never see someone like Bob Probert again. Sure, it’s easy to name players who have been more skilled than Probie and could score way more goals and assists, but if we’re talking about fighters or enforcers, few in history have been better.
Probert did just about everything to help his team and his teammates. His primary goal on the ice was to look after his friends and keep his team’s star players out of trouble. And he did it to perfection.
Bob Probert is fourth on the NHL’s all-time PIM list, with 3,300 minutes spent in the box. Every time Probert was on the ice, his opponent knew, and if they did something that Probie didn’t like, they’d be sure to find out.
However, Probert was a beloved teammate and a great guy to those on the same team as him, but if you weren’t a teammate, Probert could often be straight-up scary.
Probert just had a terrifying aura, and former NHLer Mike Hartman knows that better than anyone. Hartman played in the NHL for 13 seasons and especially remembers one thing about Probert and how he said the most frightening thing to his father.
The story about it is absolutely wild, and says everything about him.
”My father watched the fight from the penalty box where he was taking pictures of the Red Wings for a special project they needed,” Hartman told The Hockey News.
”My father was the team photographer. When I played, my father would watch from the seats, except that night he was in the home penalty box. After our fight, Bob was sent to the penalty box with a cut above his forehead. Then Bob turned to my father and said, ‘I’m going to hurt your son tonight.’”