Brendan Shanahan takes his 'Slap Shot' at Alumni Game

TORONTO -- In the 1977 classic movie "Slap Shot," there is a fabulous scene - aren't they all? - in which Charlestown Chiefs player-coach Reggie Dunlop places a $100 bounty on the head of Syracuse Bulldogs tough guy Tim McCracken.
So, Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, as you suit up on Saturday for the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 Rogers NHL Centennial Classic Alumni Game, (12 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN) are you Tim McCracken for the guys in the Maple Leafs room?

"I hope they like me more than (the Chiefs liked) Tim McCracken," Shanahan said with a laugh on Friday after the Red Wings alumni practice at downtown Mattamy Athletic Centre, historic Maple Leaf Gardens in refurbished form. "But hey, it would be a good story."
Such lunacy is never going to happen, thankfully, but all the principals were having fun with the idea on the eve of their outdoor game. Imagine: Shanahan, the head of the Maple Leafs, being smudged along the glass by players wearing the jersey of the very NHL team he leads.
"Not many guys have an off switch, which is a good thing," said legendary Maple Leafs agitator Tiger Williams, unable to suppress a grin as he considered the possibility of mayhem. "We've got to keep everything in the right perspective, but the boys will play hard to win. Even in these kinds of games, it's just the way it is."
The dressing room for Toronto will be the kings of chaos from their day, the blue and white version of the Hanson Brothers, who, combined, spent the equivalent of more than 120 full games in the penalty box.
To borrow the label attached to the fearsome New York Yankees of the 1920s, meet hockey's Murderers' Row, ranked by penalty minutes assessed - 7,214 in total - when they skated and cooled their heels for the Maple Leafs:
Tie Domi, 2,265 minutes; Williams, 1,670; Wendel Clark, 1,535; Bob McGill, 988; Darcy Tucker, 756.
Not exactly choirboys for Detroit on Saturday will be Joey Kocur, 1,963 minutes with the Red Wings, and Darren McCarty, 1,302.
Clark, the inspirational leader of the Maple Leafs, already predicts a team sports psychologist will be the most valuable player by day's end.
"He'll be telling us, 'You guys aren't any good any more!' " Clark said with a laugh.
And then he added: "I think (Shanahan) would feel awesome" if Toronto's alumni vaporized him, "because he'd feel a part of it. But we've never hit a president before, we've never gone that high up the ladder."

Shanahan played not one of his 1,524 career NHL games for Toronto, winning three Stanley Cup championships with the Red Wings. But he practiced on Thursday with the Maple Leafs alumni, albeit wearing Red Wings equipment with a Toronto jersey. That messed with the heads of a few Detroit alumni, which got a laugh out of Shanahan, who said there would be no mid-game trade, putting him with Toronto for part of the match.
"I dressed at our practice arena and they didn't have a lot of Red Wings sweaters there," he said, explaining the mixed uniform. "I haven't given it any thought. But we're in Toronto, so news is news."
Of more note was Domi considering the idea of joining Detroit for one period wearing the jersey of the late Bob Probert, in tribute to the Red Wings enforcer who played a huge role in Domi's hockey life.
"They've got Joey and Darren, but Probie was the man," Domi said, adding with a grin that no bounty - that he knew of, wink, wink - had been placed on Shanahan.
Clark, meanwhile, had a pretty good idea how the game on Saturday would unfold, madness-free:
"It will start out like the other alumni games, as usual - [touchie-feely], and then the last five minutes you hope it's within a goal. All of a sudden, we'll see a guy block a shot and we'll say he tripped. But the competitive stuff that we usually see now only on the golf course will come to the forefront. You just want a tight, close game, and you want it fun for the guys and the fans."