Islanders Legend Denis Potvin Expertly Trolls Rangers Fans Who Haven’t Gotten Over Infamous Hit

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One of my favorite aspects of sports fandom is the irrational and undying hatred many people have for certain players who they’ve sworn to despise regardless of whether or not they were personally victimized by the villains in question; I may have been born more than a decade after Bucky Dent traumatized the Red Sox in 1978, but I still hated the man with every fiber of my being after swearing my allegiance to Boston as a kid.

It’s hard to think of many Bad Guys who’ve spent longer living rent-free in the heads of rival fans than New York Islanders legend Denis Potvin. In 1979, the defenseman became Public Enemy No. 1 with the Rangers faithful after Ulf Nilsson broke his leg after getting checked into the boards at Madison Square Garden—a clean hit that nonetheless did not sit well with fans in the Big Apple who blamed Potvin for an injury that marked the beginning of the end of the Swedish center’s NHL career.

It’s worth noting Nilsson never held any ill will against Potvin and has made it clear he thinks it was a clean hit (he says the patchy ice at Madison Square Garden was the true culprit).

However, that didn’t stop Rangers fans from immortalizing their enmity for the Islanders star in the form of the “Potvin Sucks” chant that became a staple at MSG in the 1980s and can still be heard to this day—one that accompanies the instantly recognizable organ music Phish interloped into a set at the iconic arena during a stop in NYC in 2019.

It took him over 40 years, but now, Potvin has pounced on the opportunity to do some trolling inspired by the chant and raise some money for a good cause in the process.

Denis Potvin linked up with the Islanders to commemorate the chant he inspired (and raise money for charity) with the help of “Potvin Socks”

On Tuesday, the Islanders revealed Potvin will be at UBS Arena for Wednesday night’s contest against that other New York hockey team; the man who has his number hanging in the rafters at the barn will be posting up in the merch shop in conjunction with the release of the “Potvin Socks” that were 43 years in the making (10% of the proceeds will go to benefit the team’s Children’s Foundation).

Well played.