Sean Avery's 53 Make Him One Of The NHL's Top Ten Fighters

In the new era of the NHL, with more rules limiting fighting and with the salary-cap, the enforcer or fighter has gone the way of the dodo. Size and strength take a backseat to speed and skill.

The tough guys of hockey's good old days were fourth-line grinders who sat on the bench, waiting for a chance to get on the ice and drop the gloves—Bob Probert, Tie Domi, Donald Brasher, Sandy McCarty, Tony Twist, Mike Peluso, Chris Simon, Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Dale Hunter, Dave Semenko, and Marty McSorely, all come to mind.

The Top 10, according to SI.com, are Chris Pronger, Mike Komisarek, Sheldon Souray, Milton Lucic, Brent Burns, Sean Avery, Dion Phaneuf, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Fisher and Ily Kovalchuk, in that order.
 
“The Hammer” still holds the NHL single season record with 472 PIM in 1974-75. He was the toughest of the “Broad Street Bullies” and wore boxing wraps on his wrists until the NHL banned them.

Bob Probert of the Detroit Red Wings is widely regarded as the best hockey fighter of all time.

Dave Brown of the Philadelphia Flyers fought 182 times during his 14-year hockey career.

Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers was the scrappiest goalie ever to have played hockey, holds the single season record for PIM by a goalie with 113.

Dave Semenko of the Edmonton Oilers is cemented in hockey history as Wayne Gretzky's bodyguard.

John Kordic of the Quebec Nordiques racked up 1,000 PIM in only 244 hockey games and is credited with 121 fights.

Terry O’Reilly of the Boston Bruins is a legend as a one-on-one boxing match on skates.

"Tiger" Williams, the NHL’s career leader in penalty minutes (PIM) with 3,966, had a fight with nearly everyone who played the game at the time. Williams bit Schultz’s cheek.

Tie Domi Toronto Maple Leafs is credited with 322 scraps.  With his 2006 retirement, Domi leaves the game as the last of his kind -- a true policeman of the ice. The Domi-Probert rivalry is one of mythical proportions.

The enforcers in the NHL today have to contribute in other ways.

Chris Pronger, 6-6, 220 pounds, won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP for 1999-2000 and had only three fights since '02, but he's won all of 'em. Obviously folks know enough to keep back 500 feet.

Mike Komisarek (6-4, 240), Habs backliner is skilled enough to cover an opponent's top scorer. Iron Mike was 4-1 last seasons.

Sheldon Souray, Edmonton's 6-4, 227-pound power play specialist is a spotless 10-0 since 2003-04 in fights with Keith Ballard, Byron Ritchie, Matt Greene, Derian Hatcher, Colby Armstrong, Chris Clark, Darren McCarty, Ryan Malone, Andrew Alberts and Corey Sarich.

Milan Lucic, at 6-4 and 220 pounds, has displayed a hard nose for corners, big hits and mixing it up. He lost only three of his 13 bouts last season.

Brent Burns, the 6' 5", 219-pound Wild blue liner scored 43 points last season, and is undefeated in four outings, including a triumph over Dion Phaneuf.

Sean Avery, just 5'10", 195 pounds and the super pest chipped in 15 goals and 33 points with the Rangers last season. Avery has been in 54 fights during his eight-season NHL career.

Dion Phaneuf delivers thunderous hits had 10 scraps last season—going 4-3-3 with bouts against such grizzled veterans Todd Bertuzzi and Keith Tkachuk.

Ryan Getzlaf beat Dion Phaneuf 2006 and has lost only once in five bouts since then.

Mike Fisher's had seven fights since the start of the 2003-04 season and has yet to lose. Among the vanquished: Sean Avery and Darcy Tucker.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored 52 goals for the second time in his six-year career last season and he's been in 50 fights on ice since 1999.