Shoebox Memories: Gary Roberts

On Friday came news that Gary Roberts career was coming to an end. Unceremoniously dumped by the Tampa Bay Lightning, this certainly was not the way the great warrior had hoped.

Though he had not played with them since 1996 I will always remember Gary Roberts as a Calgary Flame. It was with the Flames that he enjoyed his best years along side boyhood friend and fellow lacrosse star Joe Nieuwendyk.

Just a youngster with the Flames when they won the Stanley Cup in 1989, Roberts grew to become one of the last great pieces of that team, averaging 39 goals and 200 PIMs from 1990 through 1994. That included a team record 53 goals (and 207 PIMs) in 1991-92.

He was an admirable player. Not a great one based on skill sets, but an opportunistic hard worker who was rewarded, perhaps overachievingly so.

Gary Roberts is the newest addition to the Greatest Hockey Legends biography archive. You can read the full profile here.