Top 100 Oilers: No. 65 — Dave Brown

Notable

Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1982 in the 7th round, Brown’s last year in junior with the Saskatoon Blades saw him amass 344 PIMs (a mere 40th all-time for single-season PIMs in a WHL campaign).

He jumped to pro the following year and collected 418 PIMs with the Maine Mariners of the AHL (5.88 PIMs per game).

In 1984-85, he stuck full-time with the Flyers. Fast forward to February 1989, Brown’s reputation firmly established, Edmonton acquired his services for Will Acton.

Brown would play 140 regular-season and 26 playoff games with EDM, scoring 3 goals, 12 assists, and 361 PIMs. He entered the lineup just three times in the 1990 run, but played 16 times in the following Smythe Division title season.

That 1991 off-season saw the Flyers re-acquire him as part of a package that included Jari Kurri (who was playing in Italy at the time and would be traded again that day to the LA Kings), which netted back for the Oilers Scott Mellanby.

Brown would play five more seasons, carving out a long career despite his dangerous line of work: 729 games, 80 more in the playoffs, 1789 PIMs, and finishing just shy of 100 career points.

The Story

The southpaw from Saskatoon fought 29 times as an Edmonton Oiler, according to HockeyFights.com, but unfortunately, video doesn’t exist for most of them.

However, clips of some of the most infamous can be found on YouTube….buckle in.

For those younger fans, you know the phrase, “Goodnight, Jim Kyte.”That stems from Dave Brown starting the landmower and beating Kyte – no slouch – of the Flames to a pulp in Game 4 of the 1991 Smythe Division Semi-Finals.

Brown said he would’ve stopped once he TKO’ed Kyte to the ice, but as Craig MacTavish said later, Kyte punched him while on his back. So Brown rained a flurry of thundering blows on Kyte.

Kyte on Brown between fights in the 80s: “For six weeks, I had nightmares about Dave Brown…I’ve never before or since had a player get in my mind like that.”

Stu Grimson made local headlines as an upstart rookie, who knocked down Brown in their first tangle-up on Jan. 7, 1990 (they’d fight later that night, but it was less eventful).

“You don’t get the better of Dave Brown and not have to answer for it,” said Grimson years later.

Fast forward just 48 hours, and Brown broke Grimson’s cheek and orbital bone in several places in just his 4th career game, as Brown unloaded in a fury with multiple left hooks and a ferocious uppercut that soundly put the “new heavyweight champion” narrative to bed.

Grimson required total facial reconstruction surgery to fix his face.

The story goes that Brown had his jersey sewn tight to his arm, which made it harder for young Grimson to neutralize.

This is the same game where the Brown-Hunter bench interaction happens. Hunter calls him out for it. Brown replies and looks like a crazed dog.

Grimson respected Brown immensely and said no one, not even Bob Probert, was more feared than the “toughest, baddest, meanest man on the planet,” Dave Brown.

And that list goes on: Tim Domi, Georges Laraque, Mario Roberge, Rob Ray, Tim Hunter, and Craig Berube all said things to the same effect.

He didn’t look for too many fights and protected his teammates ferociously. Dave Brown is better known as a Flyer, but was one tough SOB.

What Brownlee said

On a personal note, I first met Brown shortly after joining the Edmonton Journal during the 1989-90 season heading into the 1990 Cup run. At the time, I had one of those goofy little pony tails that were in vogue. I was working the Oiler room one day when somebody came up behind me and gave it a tug. I turned around, a bit pissed off to be honest, ready to run my mouth. It was Brown. He smiled and said nothing. Then, he made a scissor motion with his fingers. It got it cut off right after that. No lie.

There’s no disputing that the game has changed to the point where there really isn’t a place for players like Brown today, but in the era when he performed his bloody knuckles handiwork, if Brown wasn’t at the very top of the list of most feared enforcers of his time, he was damn sure close to it. Opponents feared him. Teammates respected him for having their backs without question, no matter what.

When the Oilers won their last Stanley Cup in 1990 in Boston, captain Mark Messier kicked off the celebration by parading the Cup before handing it off to Adam Graves. Moments later, Messier noticed that Brown, who hadn’t dressed in that final game, had made his way down to the bench. Messier waded back into the celebration, grabbed the Cup and handed it off to Brown. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

The Last 10

• No. 75 — Risto Siltanen
• No. 74 — Raffi Torres
• No. 73 — Don Jackson
• No. 72 — Andrew Cogliano
• No. 71 — Anson Carter
• No. 70 — Adam Graves
• No. 69 — Vincent Damphousse
• No. 68 — Dustin Penner
• No. 67 — Roman Hamrlík
• No. 66 — Pat Hughes