The Colorado Avalanche have three players whom Charlie Murphy would have called habitual line steppers. Find out who they are.
The Colorado Avalanche, just like any hockey team, is made up of different characters. Naturally, a key component of making a team successful is chemistry. However, there’s no set formula for how to make chemistry work.
While hockey players in general have a reputation for being nice family guys off the ice — humility is emphasized in the sport — their characters may change in the dressing room. And their behavior definitely changes on the ice. What most of these men would never dream of doing in life — like slamming their body into someone else’s — is part of their on-ice job.
Enter the habitual line steppers. Because both on and off the ice, there’s a line you don’t cross. The three players on this list at least tap dance around that line — earning what the late comedian Charlie Murphy dubbed habitual line steppers.
There’s are plenty of terms for hockey players who spend the majority of their careers over the line — goon comes to mind, as does it synonym, enforcer. The three players on this list aren’t goons — they’re just men who have stepped over the line often enough to be considered habitual.
Let’s look at the three Colorado Avalanche players who could be considered mildly habitual line steppers.