DETROIT -- Hockey fans remember Bob Probert as perhaps the most feared fighter in NHL history. Many also recall his battles with drug and alcohol addiction that hampered his career.

What’s often overlooked is Probert’s playing ability.

He had some skills. That was apparent in 1987-88, when the 22-year-old forward for the Detroit Red Wings played in the All-Star game during a season in which he finished with 29 goals and 62 points and flourished in the playoffs, helping the team reach the Western Conference finals.

Unfortunately, that was the apex of Probert’s career.

Probert died Monday at age 45. He suffered an apparent heart attack while on a boat on Lake St. Clair and was rushed to a hospital in Windsor, Ontario, where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Probert spent his first nine NHL seasons with the Red Wings and remained somewhat of an icon in Detroit, mostly because of his ability to beat opponents into a pulp. But Jimmy Devellano, the club’s general manager from 1982-1990, said Probert had the potential to be so much more.

Devellano drafted Probert in the third round in 1983, the same year Steve Yzerman was selected with the fourth overall pick.

“I said at the time that Bob Probert would be to the Red Wings what Clark Gillies was to the Islanders,’’ Devellano, now Detroit's senior vice president, said Monday. “Unfortunately, due to his problems, that never happened.

“He was a good player, a tough player, but he could have been a lot better. He could have been a Hall of Famer like Clark Gillies.’’

Probert’s many off-ice troubles included a 1989 arrest for cocaine possession at the Windsor-Detroit tunnel. He spent three months in a federal prison.

Devellano worked hard to help Probert turn his life around.

“He was a good guy. I liked him,’’ Devellano said. “It’s very sad and he was too young.’’

Probert is survived by his wife and four children.

On the ice, Probert thrilled fans with memorable fights against the likes of Tie Domi, Troy Crowder and Marty McSorley. Off the ice, he was described as a “gentle-hearted man’’ by Red Wings assistant GM Jim Nill, who was Probert’s teammate in Detroit for three seasons in the late ’80s.

“Everyone knew him as the tough guy and the tough times he had with his addiction, but he turned his life around,’’ Nill said. “I saw him in Windsor last year. He was proud of his kids. He was involved in charities. It’s a sad day.’’

Nill said Probert became one of the game’s true power forwards early in his career. He signed with Chicago as a free agent in 1994 and spent his final seven seasons with the Blackhawks.

Probert had 163 goals and 221 assists in 935 games. He ranks fifth on the NHL’s career list for penalty minutes with 3,300.

“He could take a punch and it didn’t faze him,’’ Nill said. “The longer the fight went, the stronger he got.’’

Red Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch said in a statement that Probert was “one of the kindest, most colorful and beloved players Detroit has ever known.’’

Former Red Wings coach and assistant GM Nick Polano said Probert was a “good guy and a good player.’’

“He was a top-six forward with good hands and one of the toughest players in the NHL,’’ Polano said. “Soft-skilled players were able to play their game because they knew Probie would protect them.’’

As the “Bruise Brothers,’’ Probert and Joe Kocur formed the toughest tandem in hockey in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

“This is a very sad day for Red Wings fans, as we have lost one of the toughest players, best power forwards and all-around great guys who ever wore the Winged Wheel,’’ Kocur said in a statement. “My favorite memory of Bob would be sitting down before a game, going over the opposing lineup and picking and choosing who would go (fight) first and if the goalie would be safe or not. It was great to be able to go out on the ice knowing that he had my back and I had his.

“He was like the brother I never had. My prayers go out to his family.’’