Colin Campbell was at the lake when the news moved across the sports ticker on his television screen: Bob Probert, dead at 45 of an apparent heart attack.
Few knew Probert better than Campbell, the NHL’s senior vice-president of hockey operations. As an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, Campbell tried to move heaven and earth to get and keep Probert on the straight and narrow.
Probert was one of the toughest fighters in NHL history, but he battled demons – drugs and alcohol – for many of the 16 years and 935 games he played in the league. He had a rare talent for someone known primarily as a fighter; when he was at his best, he also had the skill level of a top-six forward. Most of those close to Probert lamented that fact, that he had so much ability, and except for a handful of years, wasn’t able to harness it the way they thought he could.
“He was a big, lovable guy,” Campbell said Monday. “He wasn’t a mean guy at all.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Patrick Ducharme, the lawyer and player agent in Windsor, Ont., who, like Campbell, acted as Probert’s babysitter for years.
Ducharme, who represented Probert for more than 20 years, said during that time a couple of doctors told him that Probert’s drug abuse could create problems for him later in life.
“Beneath that tough exterior, he really had a good heart,” Ducharme said. “He was a good father.”
Probert leaves his wife and four children.
Probert’s father-in-law, Dan Parkinson, said at a news conference Monday in Windsor that Probert had complained about “severe chest pain” around 2 p.m. before collapsing on his boat in Lake St. Clair.
“This is a tragedy for the family,” Parkinson said. “We ask that you respect their privacy at this time. This was totally unexpected. Bob lost the fight of his life this afternoon.”
Former Chicago Blackhawks' winger Bob Probert, right, in a fight with Gordie Dwyer on Jan. 4, 2002 in Chicago.— Brian Kersey/The Associated Press
An autopsy will be performed Tuesday to determine the cause of death.
Probert played 16 NHL seasons. He started with the Detroit Red Wings, who drafted him in 1983, the same year as hall-of-famer Steve Yzerman and fellow enforcer Joey Kocur joined the fold. Probert and Kocur became known as the Bruise Brothers, and multiple NHL players weighed in Monday to say Probert might have been the “scariest” player they ever faced in a fight.
Kocur described Probert as “the brother I never had. We have lost one of the toughest players, best power forwards and all-round great guys who ever wore the Winged Wheel. My favourite memory of Bob would be sitting down before a game, going over the opposing lineup and picking and choosing who would go first and if the goalie would be safe or not. It was great to be able to go out on the ice knowing that he had my back and I had his.”
Probert’s best year was the 1987-88 season, when he scored 29 goals, accumulated 398 penalty minutes and played in the all-star game.
Sadly, Probert’s legacy also featured legal problems, most of them relating to alcohol and substance-abuse. In 1989, he served three months in prison for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the United States from Canada. Just the before the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, Probert was injured in a motorcycle crash in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. At that juncture, the Red Wings decided not to offer him a contract. Senior VP Jimmy Devellano called it “the end” and said that in his 12 years in the organization, “we’ve never spent more time on one player and his problems than we have on Probert.”
