NHL Power Rankings: The 5 Best Agitators in the NHL Today

There's always that player, you know the ones. The player that you makes a living of doing everything in their power to get under the skin of the players on your team.

They add the extra shots the refs just happen to miss, they run their mouths at the start and end of every single play, their stick just manages to find the little holes in the padding of their opponents.

The players that you absolutely despise, unless they are on your team. If they're on your team, then you absolutely love these guys.

The agitator is one of the most under-appreciated roles in hockey, and one of the hardest roles to fulfill.

Well it's time for the devil to get his due; here are the five best agitators in the game today.

Cal Clutterbuck

Cal Clutterbuck is a giant pain in the backside, and he's okay with that.

Being an agitator is clearly what he is best at, and he has embraced that role to the fullest extent possible.

Clutterbuck is another guy who plays fast and physical and also is able to put the puck in the net. One of the things that makes Clutterbuck different than most agitators is his unwillingness to fight.

The Denver Post's Adrian Dater put it best in an article from earlier in the 2010 - 2011 NHL season.

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Cal Clutterbuck is the type of player who will hit you when you’re not looking. Then, when you want to do something about that, he’s going to duck his head down at the angry paws coming at him, until he can get himself into some kind of rope-a-dope situation, or better yet, the linesman comes over and breaks it up.

"

About the only thing more agitating than an agitator who riles players up to the point where gloves could be dropped is an agitator who is too cowardly to fight the battles he started.

That's you Cal.

Maxime Lapierre

Max Lapierre is a guy that has already managed to remove himself from several Christmas card lists across the NHL.

He's fast, plays a very physical game, and does everything that he can to get into the opposition's head.

The clip from his time with the Montreal Canadiens shows exactly the things that make him such an effective agitator.

Yapping at players during warm-ups, on the bench, the big Cheshire Cat grin to the other bench. Al those things just make you want to smack him, and he uses that to his advantage.

The most agitating part about him is that he is capable of scoring.

Lapierre goals always make the opposing team and fan base grit their teeth just a bit more because now you know you're never going to shut this guy up.

Lapierre has definitely earned his place amongst the best agitators in the NHL.

Steve Ott

Steve Ott is one of the premier pests of the NHL today, and was even names the third best agitator in the history of the game by TSN last summer.

Ott has an absolute gift when it comes to the trash talk on the ice, very few people can go run their mouth the way that Ott does.

Ott was able to master his craft of agitation while playing with perhaps the best agitator ever in the NHL, Matthew Barnaby.

Both guys have the unique ability to play fast, talk fast, contribute offensively, and drop the gloves when they need to.

If there was an advanced degree, Ott would have a Ph.D. in agitation, but still would have to bow to the a couple of other guys yet to come on this list.

Matt Cooke

I think that it's fair to say that Matt Cooke is the most hated player in the NHL currently, but I don't necessarily think that he is the best agitator.

He's very good at agitating, but the thing that keeps him from being the top guy, in my eyes, is that he frequently makes stupid plays that get him penalties and suspensions.

He checks from behind, boards, slew foots, leads with the knee. He knowingly goes out of his way to attempt to injure people, and the best agitators don't need to result to unnecessarily dirty hits in order to get under the opponent's skin.

That isn't the only thing that Cooke does, but it does represent a great amount of his game.

Cooke is part agitator, part gutless coward.

Sean Avery

Sean Avery easily rivals Cooke as the most hated player in the NHL, but he doesn't do the overtly and overly dangerous things that Cooke does.

Avery does earn fines and suspensions, but mostly from running his mouth about stupid things, see the "sloppy seconds" comment for an example.

Plus, the NHL had to make a rule because of the way he was screening Martin Brodeur in a playoff series a couple of years ago.

It's no secret that Brodeur and Avery have a special kind of dislike for each other, but that would have gotten me going as well and I can't believe one of the Devils' defenders didn't plant him on his rear end after doing it.

The thing about Avery that is the hardest to deal with is that he is actually pretty skilled. He can put the puck in the net, and you just hate to see him score against your team because you thought he was loud and ridiculous before.

Avery is the best of the best currently at agitating his opponents.

Kevin Goff is a Featured Columnist for the Colorado Avalanche and is a member of Bleacher Report's 2011 NHL Draft Team.

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