THN Archive: Elite Rangers D-Man Beck Never Feared Speaking Out On State Of The Game

He didn't have the longest NHL career, but silky-smooth veteran defenseman Barry Beck made a gigantic imprint on the league and the sport. In this exclusive THN archive story from 1985, Beck spoke to legendary writer Stan Fischler on a wide variety of topics -- and he always shot straight from the heart.

Former NHL star defenseman Barry Beck was a pioneer in many regards. He was never afraid to play his own game, and he never worried about speaking his mind. And in this story from THN’s exclusive archive – our November 1, 1985 edition – Beck did not hesitate to give his perspective on fighting in the sport, his Rangers coach Herb Brooks, the genius of Wayne Gretzky, and many other topics.

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Beck spoke to veteran New York writer Stan Fischler for the story, and he and Beck went back-and-forth on the state of the game, his experience with Brooks, and much more. Beck spent most of his NHL days as a Ranger, but his influence on the sport in general still resonates with fans who watched him play.

“Fighting should be stopped,” Beck said in one of the more memorable parts of the interview. “It’s no good for the game. The rule should be that if someone fights, he’s ejected from the game. The league talks about speeding up the game. If they want it speeded up, all they gotta do is cut out the fighting. We always hear talk about getting a national TV contract in the United States but it’s gonna be tough to get when there’s fighting allowed.”

For better or worse, you always knew where you stood with Beck. He was honest to a fault, and he’s got a special place in Blueshirts history because he gave as good as he got.

“If everything positive was said about you it wouldn’t be much fun,” Beck told Fischler. “Even though a lot of negative things have happened, when everything is all over, I’ll be able to look back and say, “God, I would’ve never wanted to play anywhere else but here.”

Rangers fans were certainly happy he played for them.

By Stan Fischler

Vol. 39, Issue 6, November 1, 1985

Armed with a $385.000-a-year salary and a luxurious pad overlooking Manhattan‘s glitzy East Side. Barry Beck has a better deal with New York City than Mayor Ed Koch.

The most visible New York Ranger—every other Blueshirt wears a helmet—team captain and most popular. Beck is also the most disturbing.

A member of the New Jersey Devils calls the 28-year-old defenseman the NHL “s most overrated player. Beck’s former coach, Don Cherry, says the man called Bubba “is a good bodychecker when somebody burns his toast.”

Worst of all, Herb Brooks, who worked with Beck for nearly four years, is reported to have called Barry a coward. Though Brooks has denied the charge, many Rangers, including Beck, believe that the ex-coach made the statement.

On Beck’s plus side stand a legion of supporters who insist that his best is yet to come; that he is not the disappointment of the half century and that, given a healthy fuselage, he is capable of winning the Norris Trophy.

Relaxed in a muscle-revealing, short-sleeved shirt, blue denims and white socks, he curled up on his grey horseshoe couch, and, between sips of beer, unflinchingly shot back answers to the questions posed by Stan Fischler.

THN: You had a few fights with the Philadelphia Flyers in exhibition games. Some observers said the Flyers were testing Barry Beck. Others say Barry Beck went after the Flyers to test himself. What’s the story?

BECK: I did want to test myself but not by brawling. I wanted to see if I was healthy by throwing good body checks. And that’s what I started out doing but the game got way out of hand with all the fighting. It was senseless. All that fighting.

THN: What’s your gripe?

BECK: The NHL has come up with all these little rule changes—like adding two inches to the maximum length of a player’s stick—but they don’t do anything about the fighting. That’s where some new rules should be written.

THN: Be specific.

BECK: Fighting should be stopped. It’s no good for the game. The rule should be that if someone fights, he’s ejected from the game. The league talks about speeding up the game. If they want it speeded up, all they gotta do is cut out the fighting. We always hear talk about getting a national TV contract in the United States but it’s gonna be tough to get when there’s fighting allowed.

THN: The president of the NHL disagrees with you. John Ziegler says that if fighting were banned “that would make for more stickwork.”

BECK: I disagree completely. My reaction to what he said was that it was a joke. I don’t think he (Ziegler) is doing enough about it. I think he’s afraid to do something about it. If fighting was eliminated, it would mean a lot of bigger players would get hit a lot more. There’d be a lot more body contact, which would be good. That’s the way the game is supposed to be played. It’ll take the intimidation factor away.

THN: Why do you think there’s no movement on this issue?

BECK: I don’t know if the owners are afraid to do anything about it or what. It seems as if there’s nobody who really wants to do something about the problem and that doesn’t make sense. It’s like we don’t want to make hockey better; we don’t want the game to get stronger.

THN: Speaking of strength, that’s something that’s been lacking in Berry Beck for the past couple of seasons. What about 1985-86?

BECK: Physically, I feel 100 per cent. I worked out real hard this summer, put on 15 pounds and feel healthy for the first time in a while.

THN: I know injuries have hurt you but people who know New York tell me that Manhattan itself can be Barry Beck’s worst enemy. It certainly was for Donny Murdoch.

BECK: You have to be able to say no! You, the athlete, is the one who is in control of everything. You can have what you want and maybe a little more here in New York. You can get messed up in that whole scene. I’ve been through all that whole scene. I’m sure everybody who’s played in New York, Chicago, L.A. and other big cities has been through it. So, it’s just a matter of what you want; what you want to do and being able to say no.

THN: People have wanted a lot from you since you came to New York. Some have been disappointed. How do you react to a Don Cherry, who says somebody has to burn your toast?

BECK: I don’t know if that’s the right selection of words. Everyone must want me to be an all-star or something. Well, I haven’t been healthy. I think I’d be an all-star if I played 80 games; I just haven’t been able to.

THN: Why not?

BECK: It’s not because I’m not in good shape: it’s the way I play. I play with a lot of body contact and that way you’re gonna get hurt. Not that I’m obsessed with being an all-star. I’m trying to make the team win and if the team wins, then everybody feels good. If we get good coaching, we’re gonna win. then everybody’s gonna play better and everybody’s gonna get recognition.

THN: How do you feel about your new coach, Ted Sator?

BECK: I like him because he’s very honest, fair and treats everybody the same, he’s closer to the guys; someone you want to go out there for and really give an all-out effort.

THN: Compare Sator to Herb Brooks.

BECK: Herb was a great technician of the game. He knew the game inside out but as far as being able to sit down and talk to the players—and communicate with the players—which is so important. Herb just couldn’t communicate with you and we didn’t have the respect for him that we should have had and that’s what you gotta have from the guy behind the bench.

THN: You’re knocking Brooks, yet you won with him.

BECK: Yeah, we won with him but we didn’t win the Cup with him. We won games with him because we had good talent. On the other hand, we really hadn’t won with him. No. As far as I’m concerned we haven’t won since I’ve been here. We’ve won some games; we’ve played some good hockey but, no. we haven’t won anything.

THN: In retrospect, what do you think of the whole issue of Brooks allegedly calling you a coward?

BECK: I think it was bull-—that it ever happened. I just can’t see that being said about me—or being said about anybody who plays professional sports—by a coach. I couldn’t believe anybody would say this about me. I was very hurt by it all but it was just one more learning experience about people. The man had to be insane. In what other sport have you ever heard anything like that happening; a coach saying something like that about his player, especially a leader-type of player. It doesn’t make any sense to me and I never really thought about it a lot ’cause I knew it wasn’t true.

THN: Did you ever confront Brooks about it?

BECK: Yeah. He said he absolutely did not say it and said he was going to sue the New York Times (where it originally appeared). He said he didn’t know how it got in the paper and he apologized to me but all the damage had been done by then.

THN: Do you believe that Brooks actually said you were a coward?

BECK: Yes. I don’t think the writer (Craig Wolff) would have put anything like that in the paper unless he heard him say it.

THN: Have you ever stopped to think that Brooks was just trying to get some results out of you? He may have thought that was the way.

BECK: If so, then he was barking up the wrong tree. That seems foolish to me.

THN: Who is the greatest player you’ve ever seen?

BECK: Wayne Gretzky. To begin with, he’s a great athlete. When I watch him on the ice. I know he can play all the other sports just by the things he can do with and without the puck, his knowledge of the game, his hand-to-eye coordination. In the years he’s been with the Oilers, I don’t think I’ve ever really had the chance to hit him. And I’ve gone out and said to myself before a game: “All right, Wayne is going to get the puck; I want to try and get a couple of good, solid bodychecks on him.”

THN: Let’s assume for a moment that you were in a very good position to level Gretzky. Would you hold off at all because he is Gretzky?

BECK: No, although if I thought I was in a position where I was going to hurt him at the time of hitting him, then I might, yeah, but not because he is Wayne Gretzky. I would do the same with anyone who would be in a position to really get hurt. But don’t get me wrong, if I’m in a position to hit him as hard as I can, yeah, I’m gonna hit him.

THN: Do you mean to sit there and tell me you can’t comer Gretzky and hit him?

BECK: He just doesn’t get in the position where you can hit him. He moves off the boards a little bit and never puts himself right along the boards. And the few times he does get himself along the boards, you don’t have a chance to hit him. I haven’t been able to get the bleeping guy. I’ve tried to hit him but with the speed the Oilers have, you just can’t hit that way. That’s why he very rarely gets hit.

THN: Let’s have Barry Beck’s personal all-star team.

BECK: Ray Bourque is probably the best defenseman in hockey.

THN: Are you putting me on? What about Paul Coffey?

BECK: Bourque is better than Coffey. Bourque is a better all-around defenseman. True, Coffey is more explosive offensively but Bourque is better defensively and a little more mature. Coffey would be my second defenseman. Up front, I’d have Mark Messier, Gretzky and Mike Bossy. In goal, Grant Fuhr. I just think he’s the best goalie playing today.

THN: Who is the just-plain toughest player in the league?

BECK: Bobby Nystrom, for one. I’ve played against him a long time and he plays the same every time. Those are the kind of players you respect. Messier and Brent Sutter are two others.

THN: Who is the dirtiest player in the league?

BECK: Kenny Linseman used to be. Dirty guys are the guys who used the stick all the time but I usually don’t get too many players getting dirty against me. I’m sure if you asked Tomas Sandstrom, he’d go down the whole league.

THN: Right or wrong—every team needs a “stickman?”

BECK: I don’t think we have a “stickman.” I think Sandstrom is the only one who will play that nuts, but he just takes such a beating. On second thought, maybe every team does have a “stickman.” As a player, you don’t want somebody on the other team doing that (sticking) to members of your team without anybody doing anything about it.

THN: In the game during which you fought so much with the Flyers, the New York media took note that the Rangers appear tougher and could hold its own against a team that’ll play goon hockey.

BECK: It was good that we did that but it’s still going to be tough for us to play that kind of hockey because we don’t have the size. We’ve got the heart but we don’t have the size so we’re gonna have to win with heart.

THN: You’re the last Ranger without a helmet.

BECK: I tried one last year and didn’t feel like the same person at all. I won’t wear one until they make it mandatory. I pretty much feel that guys who don’t wear helmets get more respect from the opposition. As for high sticks, well, I’ve said it before—if the refs would call the penalties beforehand, the sticks won’t get up like that.

THN: At times, the media has been tough on you: calling you overrated, saying you should have done more for the Rangers. How do you feel when you hear comments like that?

BECK: It hasn’t been easy since I’ve been playing here. With the teams that we’ve had, a lot of times I wished to hell I was playing on another team. I don’t care about those people say negative things about me because I know my job and I know I have a tough job and I think I do it pretty good when I’m healthy. Anyway, if everything positive was said about you it wouldn’t be much fun. Even though a lot of negative things have happened, when everything is all over, I’ll be able to look back and say, “God, I would’ve never wanted to play anywhere else but here.”

THN: You seem to enjoy New York more than Ed Koch.

BECK: I have a lot of good things going here; business-wise and investments that are working out real well and I’ve met a lot of good people. Rob Ingraham (his rep) has helped me out tremendously. He’s like a brother to me. The best thing about New York is meeting so many different kinds of personalities; learning what makes people tick. It makes you grow up real damn fast and the distractions of New York—all the (expletive deleted) in the city who come along with it—don’t bother me at all. I love New York City. I like to go down to SoHo—bought a painting there—the South Street Seaport, St. Marks Place.

THN: Do you feel more American than Canadian, more New York than Vancouver?

BECK: Yeah. I still feel proud to be a Canadian but the real important years of my life were spent here growing up in the States. I feel much more American but Vancouver I love and I know I’ll want to go back there for a certain part of my life.

THN: Watching you against Washington, I get the impression you really don’t like Scott Stevens. Is it true, and are there any other players you genuinely dislike?

BECK: I don’t mind Scott Stevens at all. There are guys on every team that I like to hit a little bit harder just because they do it to the guys on our team. No, I wouldn’t name anybody I have a genuine dislike for.

THN: Why?

BECK: If I did, they’d probably read it in The Hockey News and, hell, next time we played them, they’d know what the hell was gonna happen!

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