Brendan Gallagher wages Twitter war with old school NHL player

Remember Jim Kyte?

The defenseman played 598 games from 1982-96 with five franchises, starting with Winnipeg Jets (1.0) and ending with the San Jose Sharks. He was also legally deaf, as this remarkable story chronicled.

A lot has changed since Kyte was in the NHL and he decided to get all “old man shakes fist at cloud” about it on Twitter recently. Specifically, he doesn’t like the pests that buzz around for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruin. “Brendan Gallagher, Brad Marchand, and players of their ilk are the reason I don't watch many NHL games anymore,” wrote Kyte, with the hashtags “#nohonor” and “#noaccountability.”

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You know who didn’t appreciate this sentiment? Brendan “No Honor” Gallagher, who shot back with an indictment of Kyte’s own dishonorable play. And thus, the Great Gally Vs. Kyte Twitter War began.

Here’s a Storify of the blow-by-blow:

Some solid shots landed by both sides, but we’ll score it a TKO for Kyte for evoking a Canadiens legend who would have pummeled Gallagher to the point where he would leave camp.

But Gallagher’s overall point is valid: This idealistic vision of the “good old days” where enforcers somehow kept the rats in check completely ignores that the rats never went away. It was decades of whack-a-rat: Punch the pest until it pops up again, which it always does.

The “you and your ilk” comment from Kyte was asinine: He played with teammates like Gary Roberts, Laurie Boschman (ask Tomas Sandstrom) and Owen Nolan, who dressed up their injurious line-crossing play with top six minutes and goal totals. What a whiff by Kyte singling out Gallagher and Marchand, two players that completely fit that template: Players who cross the line but are actually players, and light-years from the scourge on the NHL that Kyte makes them out to be.

Besides the fact that self-appointed moral barometer of the current NHL had 1,342 career penalty minutes and 17 career goals – the latter total having been surpassed by Gallagher and Marchand by the end of their sophomore seasons.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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