This morning, Dale Hunter was announced as the new head coach of the Washington Capitals. Hunter’s resume, as a player, is well-documented — in nearly two decades in the National Hockey League, Hunter captained the Capitals for several years in the ’90s, including the 1997-98 season, when an upstart Caps team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Hunter had a reputation as a blue-collar player, someone who was certainly skilled as a goal scorer (323 goals) and a distributor (697 assists), but also someone who was more than happy to mix it up — Hunter racked up 3,563 penalty minutes in his career, making him the only player in NHL history to ever score more than 1,000 points and notch 3,000 penalty minutes.

It’s obvious that Capitals management is hoping that Hunter’s gravitas and demeanor will translate to their squad, which has been floundering of late. Somewhere, though, I’m sure Pierre Turgeon is shaking his head.

You’ll probably see the above clip ten million times over the next twenty-four hours, so let’s just get it out of the way — in 1993, Hunter was suspended for 21 games, one of the harshest penalties ever doled out by the NHL, after viciously hitting Turgeon from behind. It was late in Game 6 of the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals, and Turgeon stole the puck from Hunter, then scored to push the New York Islanders’ lead over the Capitals to 5-1; as Turgeon celebrated, Hunter then checked Turgeon into the boards, separating his shoulder and, depending on who you talk to, potentially costing the Islanders the chance to make that year’s finals. Hunter later admitted that he “went too far.”

So, yes, Hunter’s charismatic reputation may serve the Capitals well. Let’s just hope he isn’t giving any lessons in post-goal checking to Alexander Ovechkin and the like.