Brendan Shanahan Attacked Player Who Wouldn’t Sign Autograph

Brendan Shanahan remains one of our favorite NHL players.  He was a great blend of physicality and finesse.  An absolute monster that could also score.

He finished his career with 656 goals over a span of 1500 games.  Notably, he left the game as the goals leader for active players.

But today we are looking back on the early years.  It appears that Shanny was a big fan of Rick Vaive, a former player for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  At age 14, Shanahan found out that Vaive was skating on an adjacent rink.  He went over and asked for an autograph.  But Vaive was less than receptive.

Four years later, Shanahan is an 18-year-old lined up on a faceoff against Vaive.  When the puck dropped, Shanahan attacked.  It took two linemen to pull him off.  Vaive was shocked.

NJ.com shares more on the story:

“It was a quiet, uneventful game. He couldn’t believe the rage I had, not only in attacking him, but it took two (linesmen) to restrain me afterwards and throw me in the penalty box.”

Vaive was dumbfounded.

“He said to one of my teammates at the time, Jim Korn, ‘By the way, what’s wrong with that kid and why was he coming after me?’ ” Shanahan recounted. “Jim Korn said, ‘Apparently he asked you for an autograph when he was a little kid and you weren’t that friendly to him. So he’s harbored those feelings since then.’ ”

Later on, the two would meet again:

“Three years ago, he came up to me at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and introduced me to his 14-year-old son,” Shanahan said. “I signed the autograph, took a picture and gave him a piggy-back. I didn’t want karma to come back and get me.”

Image courtesy of CS Smith.