Top 10 Biggest Menaces to Player Safety This Season

When you play against these guys; no one on your team is safe. Some of these names we've heard before and in all likelihood we will hear again. They are the thugs and brutes of the league we just can't seem to get rid of.

Some of these names might surprise you. Take for instance, One, a hard working winger who's had a pretty decent career. Now with the playoff-bound Florida Panthers he committed one of the worst offenses on this list.

During the 2011-2012 season NHL head disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan has doled out some hefty suspensions and fines to boot. While the punishments don't always fit the crime everyone seems pleased more or less with the new no-nonsense tsar of player safety.

Honorable Mention: Kevin Porter: 1 Suspension 4 Games

Porter was suspended for 4 games for this nasty knee-on-knee collision that decimated Booth's season. 

10. Patrick Kaleta: 1 Suspension 4 Games, $2500 Fine for High Sticking

Kaleta is a tough customer who plays a little too rough sometimes. Kaleta was suspended 4 games for a headbutt, yes, a headbutt on the Flyers' Jakub Voracek.

9. Jordin Tootoo: 1 Suspension 2 Games

Tootoo is well known as one of the most classless players in the league and this season Ryan Miller and Lindy Ruff would be the first to tell you so. After Milan Lucic took a run at Ryan Miller and got away with it, Tootoo decided to do the same thing except Miller fought back. Tootoo, a Nashville Predator, and not a Boston Bruin, was suspended 2 games for the incident. 

8. Tomas Kopecky: No Suspension, $2500 Fine for Sucker Punch

Del Zotto plays his game and is punished by Tomas Kopecky, who absolutely blind sided the young blue liner with a pretty vicious hook that only garnered a fine. Kopecky isn't known as a dirty player, but if he does something like this again expect a lengthy suspension.

7. Brad Staubitz: 1 Suspension 7 Games, 8 Fighting Majors

Staubitz recieved one of the first suspensons of the season when he laid a huge check out on a defenseless Cody Bass of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Staubitz is among the league leaders in fighting majors with 8. 

6. Jody Shelley: 1 Suspension 10 Games, 5 Regular Season 5 Preseason

Shelley is a seldom used thug who intentionally hurts people when he can. Guys like Shelley don't have a place in today's NHL. 

5. Brad Marchand: 1 Suspension 5 Games, $2500 Fine for Slew-Footing

Marchand is the NHL's new Corey Perry. A high scoring agitator who has gotten a lot of attention lately due to his clutch performances in this most recent postseason. Marchand has already earned himself as being a dirty player after such a short time in the league.

Marchand's ugly hit on Sami Salo received a 5 game suspension and just angered up the blood of both these teams even more than it already was. 

4. Daniel Carcillo: 2 Suspensions 9 Games

Carcillo is another agitator who takes physicality a bit too far sometimes. This nasty hit earned Carcillo a decent sized suspension, and resulted in himself getting hurt. You can't be surprised if Carcillo gets the Avery treatment sooner than later and is put on waivers.

3. Milan Lucic: 1 Suspension 1 Game, 1 Call Rescinded for Automatic 10 Games

Milan Lucic probably gets away with more than anyone else in the league. Such is life when you're an elite power forward playing for the defending champs. Lucic took a run at Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller earlier this year and got off scot-free. Lucic  received a laughable 1 game suspension for a checking from behind penalty on Zac Rinaldo of Philly.

More recently Lucic involved himself in the Bruins-Canucks brawl by coming off the bench and going the festivities. The league reviewed the call and deemed Lucic not guilty of the automatic 10 game suspension. Surprisingly Steve Downie, the Tampa Bay agitator did the same thing earlier this year and was not given the so called "mandatory" penalty. 

2. Rene Bourque: 2 Suspensions 7 Games

Bourque was recently suspended for the second time this season by putting his elbow directly into the head of Washington's star center Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom seems to be doing well but his team is missing him as he is being held out of a few games for cautionary reasons.

Watch the video evidence as Backstrom was no where near the puck and Bourque' sole intention was to hurt his target.

1. Andy Sutton: 2 Suspensions 13 Games

Andy Sutton's play is dangerous and uneccesary. Simply put, Sutton is too slow these days and the game has passed him by. He is one of the most lethal hitters in the NHL and if he can't keep up with today's game he will make sure his victims cannot as well.