During his 16-year career, Probert earned a reputation as the NHL’s toughest enforcer, a title he flaunted to the tune of 3,300 career penalty minutes. Unfortunately for Probert, he didn’t know how to flip the switch when he left the ice. In 1989 he became the first player in over four decades to be banned from the NHL, when he was arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine across the U.S.-Canada border. Reinstated after serving three months in prison, he was suspended in 1994 for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Probert never really shelved the antics: during a 2004 incident, police had to Taser him into submission.
Stevens, meanwhile, was known for a deft touch around the net that helped him amass 329 career goals. But the talented winger fought a losing battle with alcohol, and on Jan. 22, 2000, his career sank to uncommon depths. After a game in St. Louis, police found Stevens in a seedy motel with a prostitute, her pimp, a bottle of Crown Royal, drug paraphernalia and the remnants of an eight-ball of crack. While his arrest was carried off without incident, the then New York Ranger didn’t endear himself to his female companion. “I’m a crackhead, but he’s a crack monster,” the prostitute told police, complaining that she “couldn’t get high, I was having to light his pipe so many times.”