Forgotten Canes: The Miseducation of Sean Hill

     It is public knowledge that the NHL has evolved significantly. Enforcers are a dying breed and fines and suspensions are common on hits that in days past would not of even garnered a raise of the arm from an official. Purists of the game will tell you that the elimination of enforcers has caused a rise in injuries due to players taking liberties with a team's star players. It was an NHL where a player like Defenseman Sean Hill was a necessity on any NHL roster.

     However, to label a player of Sean Hill's caliber an enforcer serves as an injustice to his career and body of work on the ice. When Sean Hill arrived in Greensboro/Raleigh in the middle of the 1997 season in a trade from Ottawa, he had already etched his name on the Stanley Cup with the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. A hard nose defender with the ability to agitate an opposing team's top scorer while contributing from the blue-line. Playing in just 42 games that season he contributed ten points (5g 5a) while logging 48 penalty minutes. The following season Hill matched his offensive numbers with 10 points on 10 assists, before injury shortened his season. In 1999 Hill's game came alive finding the back of the net a career high 13 times while ringing up 31 assists for a career high 44 points.

     Hill left Raleigh for St. Louis in free agency in the year 2000, but returned midway through the 2001 season via trade. The trade proved beneficial as Hill appeared in 82 games contributing 30 regular season points (7 goals, 23 assists) along with 8 points (4 goals and 4 assists) in the Canes miraculous run to the 2002 Stanley Cup Final. His last year in Raleigh was 2004, where he tied a career high in goals with 13. Following the 2005 lockout Hill had stints in Florida, with the Islanders, where he became the first person in the NHL to be suspended for Performance Enhancement Drug, and the Minnesota Wild before wrapping his career up in the Swiss A League.

     Sean Hill was in many ways before his time an agitator who could contribute in many ways on the ice, and was defensively responsible enough to be in the first pairing as indicated in 2002. Playing in the post transition phase and in the initial cup run phase with the Canes his name should be mentioned more often in the discussion of solid Canes blue-liners. Thanks for reading and Redvolution!

The Caniac Collector