B/R Experts' Twitter Debate: Who Are the Toughest Players in NHL History?

Toughness. What does it mean to be tough in this day and age? Is your idea of toughness a person who is big and strong and willing to fight? Is it someone who fights for his or her beliefs? Or is it someone with the strength to walk away from a fight?

Maybe in society toughness means that, but in hockey, it's pretty clear that toughness has little do with any of that nonsense.

It's about fighting, playing through pain and being a physical nightmare to compete against. Some players were only great at one of those things, while others dabbled in all three areas.

That's why myself, Adrian Dater and Lyle Richardson took to Twitter to debate the topic of toughest players in NHL history. It's pretty clear that I won, but we thought it'd be best to let the argument unfold here through our series of tweets.

Toughness, in my case, is allowing the inferior opinions of others to see the light of day. And if you're still looking for more on this subject after reading our arguments, be sure to check out Mr. Richardson's ranking of the 100 toughest players in hockey history.  

The Debate 

To start the discourse, here's our respective lists of the five toughest players in NHL history: 

"

My list of toughest NHL players ever: 1. Cam Neely. 2. Bob Probert. 3. Terry Sawchuk. 4. Tie Domi. 5. John Ferguson

— Adrian Dater (@adater) October 2, 2014"

"

@SpectorsHockey @adater You're both wrong and terrible. It's Tie Domi, Scott Stevens, Bob Probert, Chris Pronger and Marty McSorely. I win.

— Dave Lozo (@DaveLozo) October 2, 2014"

And here's how the debate unfolded (scroll down in the box below to see the whole conversation): 

Have your own list? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

@SpectorsHockey  @adater  @DaveLozo