Bob Probert wasn’t fun playing against. He was one of the top enforcers the league has ever seen, and he was a key figure in every NHL team he played with. Probert is in the top five on the NHL’s All-Time PIM list, and nowadays, he’s a true legend of the game, and the stories regarding Probert are almost mythical.
Probert never turned down a fight, but at the same time, as he was a nightmare to play against, he was a beloved teammate. Probert knew how to take care of his fellow teammates, but he could do some really crazy things, even to those playing in the same organization as him. Just ask Shayne Corson.
Corson had a 19-season NHL career and retired with 1 156 games and 693 points. He captained both the Edmonton Oilers and the St. Louis Blues, but as a rookie, he didn’t have the same respect from his teammates. And especially not from Bob Probert.
When Corson was a rookie in Brantford Alexanders, in the OHL, Probert was there, and he did something disgusting against Corson.
”It was good, except for my first couple days in Brantford, in my rookie camp,” Corson said on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.
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”I showed up in a Camaro, a new Camaro. So I show up in this car, and on the first day of training camp, I come out. It’s a hot August day.
”Training camp in junior hockey in Ontario was in August, and sure enough, there’s a big shit in the hood of my car, and it was Bob Probert and Todd Francis.
”Everybody knows Bob Probert, and Frannie was another nails guy who was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round but never made it.
”They decided that I was cocky young rookie and deserved to be brought down a few notches, and they probably were right, so they shit on the hood of my car. It wasn’t just sitting there. It was melting down the front of my hood.
”I’m thinking to myself, ’I’m going to go to whoever did this.’ So I’m running around, saying, ’Who the f*ck did this? I want to kill them.’ When someone told me it was Probie, I just said, ’That’s okay then.’
”Both Probie and Franny ended up being my linemates. Probie was my left winger for a year and a half, and Frannie was as tough as as Probie was, but never made it because of injuries, and he was my right winger. I was pretty lucky, they took care of me for the next year and a half until Probie got traded.”
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