May the Enforcer Be with You

I always remember Dave Hutchison the enforcer/defenseman of the Los Angeles Kings 1974-78 in an endearing but negative light. He was a great fighter, a decent skater and an undisciplined unthinking defender. He was the dirty unpredictably edgey player who seemed to be a necessisity on every team in that  Broadstreet Bullies era.  (Penalty box stick fight anyone?)
He, more often than not, would do the enforcing thing well, but often at the wrong time or to an extreme, which usually ended up hurting the Kings on the scoreboard and frequently lead to a loss. So my main impression of Dave Hutchison really resonates with the post below by my esteemed hockey colleague Guillaume Le Clemm.

I had just been "doing my college homework" with my then girlfriend in the back of my 70's Dodge Van as was our custom after each Kings game we attended, win or lose. 

Those were the days !!!
Dave Hutchinson had just helped the Kings lose another game (and his fight), as was their collective custom. The parking lot was deserted when we finished studying. As we sped across the now empty but still Fabulous Forum parking lot, who did I have square in my headlights but the purple gold number 4.
I laughed and joked to my tutor that we could do everyone a favor and just not swerve. Being a hockey afficianado herself,  she said, “I won’t tell anyone.” Instead, I slalomed through some orange cones and watched him head safely towards his beat-up old car. 

In fact, I once saw Marcel Dionne arrive at a Kings practice at the Culver City Ice Rink (Anyone remember Hans?) in a Chevy Nova. It was obviously before the modern salary era but even then I was amazed that none of the players showed up in new cars, or really even nice cars.

Dave Hutchison actually statistically was quite a solid defenseman. For four seasons with the Kings he never had a minus season and amassed 6 goals (all in one season), 31 assists and close to 600 PIMs.

Just came across this recent story on Hutch these days in the The Hockey News