Picking an All-Time NHL Tough Guy Team

There are a lot of tough guys in the NHL.

Any sport that legally allows guys to punch each other unconscious makes toughness a requirement.

In a league filled with some of the toughest, baddest athletes in the world, what would happen if a team was formed of only the toughest and baddest?

That's what this list will attempt to do. But there will be some ground rules.

First off, the ability to drop the gloves, while heavily favored, won't be the determining factor for making this team. No one player in the starting lineup is alike, just as the perfect NHL line wouldn't be ideal with five snipers or five playmakers.

After all, toughness can be measured in many ways. There's physical toughness but there's also mental toughness. All the players on this list are a challenge to play against, whether it's with fists, an unmatched scoring ability or even an unwavering mental mindset that has opponents quivering in their skates.

We'll start it off with some of the honorable mentions who are good enough for this team but not out there during the opening faceoff.

Making the Team, Just Not the Starting Lineup

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These tough guys certainly fill the toughness quota, just not as much as the men in the starting lineup.

Donald Brashear, Forward: An outstanding heavyweight fighter in the league and a great enforcer.

Tie Domi, Forward:  Like Brashear, Domi knew how to drop the gloves and get results.

Chris Pronger, Defenseman: An opposing defender, Pronger was a brick wall of size and physicality. Pronger is without question one of the best defensemen of his generation.

Any goalie who didn't wear a facemask: Seriously, any goalie who stopped shots without face protection back in the day had to have a whole lot of guts. Goaltender Terry Sawchuk (above) looks more like a science experiment than a hockey player. They'll all ride the bench simply because we feel bad putting them out there without any facial protection on.

Goalie: Ron Hextall

Hextall, a Hockey Hall of Famer, was an innovator of sorts. He would reach the 100 penalty minute mark in a season twice, an oddity for the position.

In his rookie year with the Philadelphia Flyers, Hextall hung tough against the mighty Edmonton Oilers dynasty in the Stanley Cup Finals, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy in defeat.

In typical Hextall fashion, he was called for slashing Kent Nilsson during that series, serving an eight-game suspension the following year. That would be one of several suspensions in Hextall's career.

Hextall had guts and he always stood up for his teammates. Perhaps the most notorious example of this is his clash with fellow goalie Felix Potvin of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1996-97 season. Potvin slashed Hextall's teammate Daniel Lacroix and agitated the Hextall into rushing across the ice and clashing with the Leafs netminder. The fight, in the video above, was so memorable it was listed as the best goalie fight in professional hockey history by The Hockey News.

Being a tough guy isn't all about fighting. Hextall played 608 games at the most physically demanding position, goaltender, recording 296 wins with a career 2.97 goals-against average. He also was the first goalie to shoot a goal into an opposing net and the first goalie to score a playoff goal.

It should be mentioned Hextall carries with him a mental toughness. As the current general manager of the Flyers shows, Hextall is willing to take on the responsibilities of managing a team.

What makes Hextall an ultimate tough guy?: Hextall's willingness to stick up for his teammates and drop the gloves is rare for the position.

Defenseman: Scott Stevens

There may not be a more memorable hit in the modern era than Scott Stevens' crushing check of Eric Lindros in the 1999-00 Stanley Cup playoffs. If there were ever a case of "keeping your head up," Lindros was proof positive of that. The hit practically ended Lindros' career.

Every tough guy is going to get called dirty. When 215 pounds hit you at full speed, every hit is going to look dirty.

Stevens was the toughest player on the toughest defensive team in the league. He was the captain of a the New Jersey Devils during the team's four Stanley Cup Finals appearances in a nine-year stretch. The team took home the Cup three of those times with Stevens winning the Conn Smythe during the team's 2000 run.

It should also be mentioned Stevens' 2,800 penalty minutes are the most of any player an the Hockey Hall of Fame, a class he joined in his first year of eligibility in 2007.

A captain, a leader and the ultimate tough guy, Stevens is at the top of the heap when it comes to defensemen.

What makes Stevens an ultimate tough guy?: Bone-crunching hits and shutdown defense made Stevens an intimidating player and one of the best of his era.

Defenseman: Dave Williams

"The Tiger" knew how to get under an opponent's skin.

Just like a tiger on the prowl, Williams lashed out unexpectedly from the shadows.

As Sam McManis wrote of Williams in the April 1, 1985 version of the Los Angeles Times, "No one needs to ask Tiger to use his stick on an opponent. He does it on his own, sometimes without provocation. There are no official records, but it is believed that Williams leads the league in suspensions."

There is tough, but there's also something called crazy. As McManis noted, Williams was suspended in the 1984 season for eight games for trying to choke Calgary player Paul Baxter with his stick.

With insanity like this, it's no surprise Baxter is the all-time leader in penalty minutes with 3,966.

Not exactly the ideal statistic for hockey success, but for being labelled a hockey tough guy, Baxter may take the cake.

Despite being a bit of a loose canon, Baxter also was a solid point producer, notching 513 points in his 962-game career.

What makes Williams an ultimate tough guy?: His unpredictability and aggressiveness makes him a scary opponent and one that's just insane enough to crack the starting lineup.

Forward: Georges Laraque

There's a certain style about Georges Laraque that couldn't keep him off this team.

Laraque will never be known as a great scorer, a nimble skater or even someone who seems like he'd be a hockey player.

What separated Laraque from other NHL players was his fighting ability. When the gloves dropped, there may not have been a more feared fighter than him. As the video above points out, there also may not have been a more professional fighter either.

Laraque makes this list because he treated fighting as his profession. The Hockey News saw fit to rank Laraque the best fighter in the league for the 2004 season.

Teams recruited Laraque for that reason alone. Defending superstars and laying out punishment if somebody stepped out of line.

In his 12-year career, Laraque engaged in 22 NHL fights, according to hockeyfights.com. One would be hard pressed to say he lost any of them.

What makes Laraque an ultimate tough guy?: His two fists might be the most feared in NHL history. He was the ultimate enforcer and was comfortable in his role.

Forward: Mario Lemieux

There may not have been a player who dealt with tougher obstacles off the ice than he did on the ice.

Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma during the 1992-93 season. Despite missing two months getting treatments, he still won the league's scoring title. Lemieux famously received his last radiation treatment then flew to Philadelphia to play the Flyers just hours later, recording a goal and two assists. There's a great story on this by Corey Masisak at NHL.com.

The Pittsburgh legend also suffered severe, chronic back pain, which often led to missed time. Lemieux's back pain was so severe, he often couldn't even tie his own skates.

Lemieux was known to get into scrums when he saw fit. Sometimes, he even went after NHL referees, as was the case when he went after Kerry Fraser in the video above.

Just like Hextall, Lemieux is mentally tough. After his first retirement, he saved the team from leaving Pittsburgh by becoming an owner. He had to retire a second time because of an irregular heartbeat.

What makes Lemieux an ultimate tough guy?: Unlike others on this list, Lemieux's toughness spawned from issues off the ice. Battling cancer is tough for anyone. Performing at the level Lemieux did despite his various ailments and injuries makes him one of the toughest in the land.  

Forward: Gordie Howe

Gordie Howe was hockey before hockey knew what hockey was. His nickname "Mr. Hockey" is a registered trademark.

Before Gretzky came along, Howe was the man on top of all the scoring lists. It stands to mention that Howe played for 26 seasons in the league, accumulating 1,850 points in the process.

Howe was a young 51 years old when he played in his final season with the Hartford Whalers, participating in 80 games that year. Think about that one. In an age where a 35-year-old player is on his way to retirement, Howe played nearly 20 years longer than that.

That's one tough dude.

Then there's the whole "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" deal. For those unaware, that's recording a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game. Having your name equated to success in fighting and scoring is the definition of tough. Interestingly enough, Howe only notched two of his namesake feats.

There's a lot more that can be said about Howe, but simply put, he's one of the best ever to play the game and the captain of this tough guy team. 

What makes Howe an ultimate tough guy?: Longevity, skill with the puck and dropping the gloves. Howe was the ultimate blend of it all. There's a reason he is the literal embodiment of the sport.

Coach: Mike Milbury

Mike Milbury is the coach behind the bench for the tough guys. Anybody who is bold enough to fight a fan in the crowd with a shoe (see video above) is probably tough enough to handle a team full of the baddest of the bad players.

Milbury was no stranger to the box, averaging 2.06 penalty minutes a game during his 12-year playing career with the Boston Bruins.

His image as a tough guy extended into his coaching career. He would drum up controversy in 1991 in two particular instances. Selecting his team for the NHL All-Star Game, Milbury chose enforcer Chris “Knuckles” Nilan instead of more skilled players, which forever changed how All-Star teams were selected.

Then there was the playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Feeling his player Cam Neely was intentionally injured by Pittsburgh defender Ulf Samuelsson, Milbury fielded a physically bruising lineup in Game 4 of the series in response.

After his coaching career, Milbury became an outspoken analyst for the league.

What makes Milbury an ultimate tough guy?: He'll do whatever it takes to have the physical edge on his opponent.

All statistics courtesy of NHL.com.