Stevens leads by example Scott Stevens doesn't consider himself a teacher per se -- he's a hard-nosed hockey player first and foremost -- but he has been known to leave a lasting impression or two on players throughout the League during his storied career. "Throughout my career I've often been paired with younger defensemen and been able to help them out," Stevens said. "I like that part of the game. I think I'm a student of the game and I like helping out and teaching younger players. If I can give them any input and make the game easier for them or help them out, I'm happy to." While he may be a man of few words in the locker room, the fiery New Jersey Devils defenseman likes to lead and instruct his teammates on the ice. "He's not very vocal in the room," Devils forward Scott Gomez said. "He just says what needs to be said. But I'll go to battle with that guy any time. He's that good of a leader." "We need him in the lineup. He's an unbelievable leader," said John Madden, the team’s best defensive center. "He'll go down in the history books as one of the toughest guys ever to play the game. I've seen him endure a lot of things that would make a grown man cry. When he goes in the Hockey Hall of Fame, that's one of the things I'll remember about him is his toughness."
One of the other things players will remember Stevens for is guiding his team to championships. Stevens, who has captained the Devils to three Cups in nine years, is so good at rallying his troops that all he has to do is throw one monstrous check or glare at his teammates on the bench and they know what to do. "You feed off him," Gomez explained. "You see it in his eyes and you see how he is out there. Some leaders lead by example and when Scotty is on the ice that's what he does. He studies the game. He's passionate about the game. Not taking anything away from any other D here, but when he's out on the ice you feel his presence. "There are certain guys in the League that you know when they're on the ice and Scotty is definitely one of them." Just ask Paul Kariya and Eric Lindros. These two NHL superstars were laid out at different times by Stevens during the Stanley Cup Playoffs after failing to be on the lookout for the hard-hitting defender when they were on the ice. Stevens caught Kariya with a devastating check in Game 6 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. The hit came early in the second period after Kariya dished off a pass in center ice. The former Mighty Duck of Anaheim had no idea where Stevens was after he got rid of the puck and, as a result, Stevens blasted him with his brick-like shoulder. While it took less than a second after the pass for Stevens to land the punishing blow on Kariya, it took several minutes for the fallen Duck to get up from the legal hit.
"I sensed he was there," Kariya said. "I thought I had a little more time than that, but that's Scott's game. He's very patient with his hits and he times them right. He waits for his opportunity and he's done that throughout his career." Since Kariya was the player last in possession of the puck, the hit was clean and supported by a statement from NHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. "There were two factors I looked at in reviewing the hit," Campbell said in the statement. "One, the hit was a legal hockey hit, as Stevens struck Kariya with his shoulder. Two, in reviewing the hit frame by frame, it was clear that the hit occurred less than one second after Kariya made the pass." Lindros got his bell rung by Stevens three years earlier in the seventh game of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. This time, Lindros made the mistake of motoring through center ice with his head down after intercepting a Scott Niedermayer pass. That resulted on one of the greatest open-ice hits in hockey history. "The game is never over. I don't care how much time was left," Stevens said. "I finish my checks right to the end. It doesn't matter if it's the regular season or the Playoffs."
Some other NHL players who have also been left sprawled by Stevens are Slava Kozlov of the 1995 Detroit Red Wings and Shane Willis and Ron Francis of the 2001 Carolina Hurricanes. While Stevens doesn't like it when one of his hits results in a player getting hurt, he still goes about his business and plays the game the only way he knows how -- hard. "It's nothing new. That's the way I've played all my life," Stevens said. "The game is meant to be physical and I always play physical." But he never goes out of his way to make contact. The experienced veteran is one of the best all-around defensemen in the NHL. Tactically, he always seems to be in the right place at the right time, especially when it comes to landing those thunderous checks. "Stevens is probably the best at timing and coming across the middle and hitting guys when they are vulnerable,'' Flyers' defenseman Eric Desjardins said. "You definitely have to know he's on the ice," former teammate and current Mighty Ducks forward Steve Thomas said. "Guys like that, you better know where they are at all times. It's important for your health." Ken Daneyko, who announced his retirement this past summer after 1,283 regular-season games and 175 postseason contests, had the pleasure of playing on the same team as Stevens for most of his career, where the duo was considered the backbone of the Devils' defense.
"I know it's a bold statement, but he may go down as the greatest defenseman to ever play the game," Daneyko said. "There's no doubt that he'll go down as one of the greatest if not the greatest to play when you're looking at all-around defensemen. He contributed points early in his career -- he's gotten more in the playoffs again -- and obviously the devastating hits. He fought everybody in the game when he was younger, so that's as well-rounded a defenseman as you're going to get in the National Hockey League in the last couple of decades. "Nobody plays as long as him without that will and desire to play the game. I've seen a lot of guys with similar talents or more talent. I just remember a lot of different players and they're out of the game in 5-8 years and other guys play 20. That reason is the work ethic and will to win and the will to compete and Scotty has maybe been the best in the game at it for a long time." |
