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Legends in hockey are as numerous as any sport. Reggie Jackson is baseball, Kobe Bryant in basketball, and Peyton Manning in football.
Darren McCarty is a legend in hockey, for so many reasons.
His game-winner in the 1997 Stanley Cup Final for one, with the Detroit Red Wings.
McCarty potted the winner, and then was on the ice for the final horn and the celebration.
“Oh, no, that was Scotty (Bowman),” McCarty told us. “The most pride I have is that he had the trust in me to be out there whatever. Look at all the Hall of Famers I’ve played with and been around, but my Hall of Fame moment is that after Scotty retired, and after we won the Cups, Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch were having a big party. Scotty Bowman walked up and he says to me and he says: “Hey, D-Mac, I wanted to let you know, one of the things I regret the most is that I didn’t tell my players how much I appreciate ’em . You’re my second favorite right winger ever to play for me next to Guy LaFleur,” and he scurried off.
“So, I got that going for me, and Guy LaFleur, the flower. Legend. He won four Cups first, so I got to accept it, and more, he smoked more packs a day than I ever could. To me, that’s all that mattered. Boom, mic drop. That’s it. It’s the appreciation that I always had from everybody in that organization of what I did.”
Legends are not built on a single event, McCarty contributed often to that :legend” moniker.
In the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs, McCarty took the Red Wings on his back and scored a natural hat trick, to snap a 2-2 tie and send Detroit to the win in Game 1.
“We got game one, that’s it.” McCarty said. “You never look ahead. You knew the war it was, so it was just about sticking to the attrition. I scored a lot of goals on Patrick Roy’s high glove. You go back to ’97 playoffs, breakaway, high glove. As a right-handed shooter, that’s my spot.
“I love Adam Foote because he’s such a warrior and obviously as you get older there’s this respect – but man I gave him a close shave. He almost took that one in the face, and there’s no way Roy saw the first one. But the second goal I scored, two on one down the wing, slap shot, high glove, was my favourite. Other than the Cup-clinching one, that was my favorite goal I ever scored. Just because I’d do that shot every day. Hockey players, we don’t say we’re superstitious, but we have routines, and my routine was to hit that shot before I left the ice after every practice.”
Every generation needs a legend, and McCarty was asked who in NHL is worthy of carrying his mantle in his era.
“I think that this kid’s got more talent, and he plays top minutes, but I’m a little bit smarter than he is, I don’t do dumb things,” McCarty replied. “I love Tom Wilson. But you have to understand the kid plays top minutes, he skates, he’s physical, just sometimes I question some of his decision making. But I’ve always loved him, he played junior hockey here, and he’s such a great kid. He’s such a great dude. It’s just that some guys, they get on the ice and there’s an alter ego.”
Legends can make mistakes too.
On the other hand, McCarty was asked about his favorite Detroit teammate.
“You know what, Drapes [Kris Draper] is my big brother, and Drapes is the one that’s responsible, but Ozzy [Chris Osgood] and I came in together.” McCarty offered. “Ozzy’s the prankster, Ozzy’s the little brother, Ozzy is one of my favorite humans to be around.”
McCarty was asked about building an all-time NHL team, a tall order, but one that a legend ouoght to be able to do, blindfolded.
“Wow. Gosh,” McCarty replied. “I could do that with former teammates. It’s almost like you’ve seen what it would be already. I would go Shanahan, Fedorov and Yzerman. We’ve seen that before. I’d put in Lidstrom and Konstantinov, and then I’d throw Ozzy in net. Listen, the biggest joke out there is the fact that there is even an argument that he’s not a Hall of Famer.
“When you’ve got 400 wins, you’ve backstopped two Cups and you’ve won a third as a backup, I mean to me it’s just the bias of the team in front of him. But go watch our games, go watch any of them. The toughest job in sports is to be a quarterback, or a goaltender in Detroit. So, that’s my choice.”
Getting to become a legend is what you do on the ice, holding that mantle is another. McCarty has carried his “legend” status well, and made himself a space in hockey after his career.
Adapted from
Betway Insider
