MS
1%er
Well I never loved him or Torres. I thought they were both filthy players. As Isaid Stevens would fight all comers and he was probably a top 10 to 15 fighter in the league in addition to scoring 40-50 points and being a top 15 D man of all time. Nobody called him a turtle. I’m objective as a fan. I hate Cooke. I disliked Raffi but he only played one season. These assholes played to injure their NHLPA brothers.
If Stevens would have played 5 more years, the hits he threw would have made him a villain.
I'm obviously not saying that they're the same, but the stuff you're talking about? If you were actually saying it before 2007 then you were pretty much the only guy in Vancouver doing it. He was viewed no differently than Burrows a few years later - an agitator that fans here absolutely loved.
I posted here for almost all of his Canuck career and 'Canuck fans angry that Cooke is a dirty player' simply was not a thing. He was one of the team's most popular players.