Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Even from his OHL days, Brendan Shanahan was someone special.

I will never forget my first meeting with Brendan Shanahan.

He was a scrappy 18-year-old playing for the London Knights just coming off back-to-back losses to the Peterborough Petes. Perhaps not quite yet the six-foot-three, 220-pound left winger he would ultimately grow into, he was no less much bigger than the six-foot-one, 180-pound Rob Murray, a checking centre he had just spent two frustrating nights trying to escape from.

Shanahan was one of the prized prospects for the 1987 NHL draft and would ultimately be chosen No. 2 overall behind Pierre Turgeon, while Murray was a tough-as-nails competitor who lived for the challenge of shutting down big scorers. Murray not only out-scored Shanahan 1-0 in the two games, he also won a fight when the pair decided to settle things man-to-man.

As I walked up to a sweat-soaked Shanahan inside the Knights dressing room, I half expected him to tell me to buzz off. Or something like that. Instead, Shanahan spoke about not being allowed to compete against Murray. His coach had decided to try to keep the scoring ace away from the checker, even on home ice, and consequently Shanahan's ice time dipped well below his nightly average.

"It was awful," Shanahan said. "If I can't match up against a checking centre and beat him, then I don't deserve to play. Don't play me less. Play me more!"

Right away I loved his competitive spirit. I covered junior hockey for 14 years and met very few young men who matched his spirit, maturity and passion for the game.

It was that competitive spirit that carried him through a splendid 21-year NHL career during which he played 1,524 games, scoring 656 goals and 1,354 points with 2,489 penalty minutes. He also won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, one of five teams he played for.

A right-shooting left winger, Shanahan could play it any way you'd like. If you wanted a skill game, he was up for the test. Twice he scored 50-plus goals and four other times he topped the 40-goal mark. If it was a brawl you wanted, then look out. Only four times in his career did he register fewer than 100 minutes in penalties.

So when Shanahan announced his retirement Tuesday, the game lost a great one. In terms of pure skill, Shanahan wouldn't match up against some of the best players of his era. But when it came to making the most of what you had and making an impact on the game, few stand above him.

Perhaps his greatest impact on the game came off the ice. During the lockout season of 2004-05, it was Shanahan that brought together many of the top people in the sport in Toronto to discuss the future of the game. The "Shanahan Summit" led to substantial changes being made in the way the game is played, largely due to a reduction in obstruction that threatened to choke the life out of the game.

In the Stanley Cup final prior to the lockout, between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames, it was blatantly obvious the game had been hijacked by the pluggers and grinders, while the most skilled players - the players fans actually pay to see - had to claw and fight for every inch of ice they could get. Cheaters actually were prospering and Shanahan, among others, knew that had to change.

Shanahan gets a lot of credit for the changes in the game, mostly because he was the player who had the courage to not only suggest changes that needed to be made, but the conviction to stick with it until he saw results. Truth be told, league brass as well as general managers, owners and the like had discussed many of the changes that ultimately led to the opening up of the game with more of an accent on skill. Also, players such as Trevor Linden, Jarome Iginla, Martin Brodeur and Rob Blake showed similar commitment and passion.

But it was Shanahan, who lived in Boston at the time, who made it to every meeting of the competition committee and he deserves his share of the limelight. The hockey we watch today is not perfect, but it is infinitely better than what we saw in the dead puck era. Smaller players like Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane probably would not achieve nearly as much as they have playing under the old rules that allowed hooking and holding and relentless cross-checking in front of the net.

There were growing pains, to be sure. And you can bet Shanahan took his share of abuse - even from his own teammates. Once, while sitting in a bar in Calgary with his team, his teammates ragged on him about the number of penalties being called in the game they were watching on TV. All he could do was sit quietly, taking their ribbing and knowing better days lay ahead.

Another time, as he complained about a penalty called against him, a referee belted out, "They're your rules, Shanahan!"

Shanahan's numbers are likely good enough to get him elected to the Hall of Fame as a player. If for some reason, he misses out in that category, then he should be put in as a builder. Either way, he is a Hall of Famer.