Top 10 Greatest Fighters Going Back to 1970
With all the publicity surrounding the start of the NFL, and rightfully so, people tend to forget that the start of the 2011 NHL season is less than two months away.
Growing up in Northern Minnesota I learned to love the sport of hockey at an early age, even though I never actually learned how to skate.
The part of the sport that fascinated me the most was the fighting. Hockey is the only sport where this kind of behavior is not only accepted, but in a lot of cases encouraged.
Fighting quickly became my favorite part of the game. I would watch hockey just to see a fight. If there was a bench clearing brawl that was considered hitting the jackpot in my book.
With fighting being my favorite part of hockey, you can guess that certain fighters became my favorite players. They had to be able to play though. They couldn’t just be a total goon that hit the ice for one maybe two shifts a game.
They had to contribute offensively or defensively and that’s why Bob Probert, God rest his soul, quickly became my all-time favorite hockey player, and still is today.
I crafted a list of guys going back to 1970 that personified this role. I stayed away from any players before the 70’s for the sole fact that, according to a close friend of mine and ex-hockey player, all players were tough back then. Everyone was an enforcer for the most part, because they had to be with how the game was played in that era.
Now that’s enough with all the small talk. Let’s dive in and get after it.
10. Chris Simon (1992-2008)
1 of 10More of an unknown to a lot of people, because he played during the same time as Probert, Domi, Tony Twist and Stu Grimson, Simon got his chops by fighting all those names I just mentioned.
He fared pretty well against each of them as well. He was also the main enforcer for the Colorado Avalanche during their Stanley Cup title run in 1995 when they swept the Florida Panthers.
During that season, he managed to put up 16 goals and 34 points while racking up 250 PIM’s. His best season statistically came during the ’99-’00 season where he buried 29 goals and ended with 49 points.
He ended his career with 1,824 career PIM’s and 144 goals.
Side note: Chris Simon was suspended eight times during his career for a total of 65 games.
9. Dale Hunter (1980-1999)
2 of 10More of a middleweight contender than heavyweight, Dale Hunter managed to fight his way through two decades and up to No. 2 all-time in PIM’s with 3,565.
Hunter totaled up at least 200 PIM’s for 10 of his first 11 seasons in the league. During that span he dipped under 40 points once, which was the ’86 season where he only played in 46 games and had 39 points. To no coincidence, that was the same year he didn’t break 200 PIM’s either.
In Hunter’s only Stanley Cup appearance in 1998, he and the Washington Capitals were swept by the Detroit Red Wings.
Hunter had a long standing rivalry with Rich Tocchet. They battled it out on four noted occasions. Neither one really ever got the upper hand.
Side note: Dale Hunter remains the only NHL player to have racked up at least 1,000 points and 3,000 PIM’s.
8. Georges Laraque (1997-2010)
3 of 10Now some people may or may not agree with me on Laraque because he lacks the PIM’s that you would think that it would take to make a list like this.
If you look at it closer though, you’ll find that Laraque played in an era where hockey was starting to and has since been cleaned up.
Fights just aren’t happening like they did back in the 70’s, 80’s and even the early 90’s. However, that doesn’t mean that the NHL didn’t have a reigning heavyweight Champ during the 2000’s.
Laraque was the bad boy on the block for all those years. He was the unanimous winner of the 2003 "Best Fighter" award by Hockey News. He also named the Sports Illustrated No. 11 enforcer for 2008.
He registered 13 goals and 29 points during the 2000-01 season, while also putting up 141 PIM’s. The majority of the reason he had low PIM’s throughout his career is simply because nobody wanted to fight him. He was that tough.
Laraque’s biggest test actually came early on in his career as he locked antlers with one of hockey’s longtime greats in Bob Probert. They danced on two separate occasions with each fight basically ending in a draw.
Laraque first made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006 where he and the Edmonton Oilers lost a seven-game battle to the Carolina Hurricanes. His second chance at a Cup win came with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008, but they lost to the Red Wings in six games.
Side note: Georges Laraque is a vegetarian. I thought that was weird coming from a guy who likes to draw blood on his opponent.
7. Basil McRae (1981-1997)
4 of 10Basil McRae is a sentimental pick for this list, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t deserving of being on here.
McRae had a long career that spanned almost two decades and six teams. But his most productive years came with my all-time favorite hockey team—the Minnesota North Stars.
He piled up the major penalties to the tune of 365 total PIM’s during the 1988-89 season while still accumulating 12 goals and 31 points.
The very next season he teamed up with former North Star great, Shane Churla, to form one of the best enforcer duos ever, and lead the league with 351 PIM’s.
During a fun 1990-91 season, McRae and Churla took on all comers and bulldozed a path of destruction through the playoffs and onto one the unlikeliest Stanley Cup Finals appearances for a 27-39-14 North Stars team.
McRae and Churla tallied up 94 and 90 PIM’s, respectively, during their Cup run. But it wasn’t enough, as the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins lead by Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr beat up on the Stars with a 4-2 series win.
Side note: Basil McRae was also known for his epic bouts with Craig Berube. They got after it on three separate occasions, which resulted in a 1-1-1 record for both in my opinion.
McRae also welcomed Pengilly, Minnesota’s very own Mike Peluso into the NHL—giving Peluso his first career scrap. McRae capped that win with a knee to the head.
6. Dave "Tiger" Willams (1974-1988)
5 of 10Tiger Williams is the NHL’s all-time leader in Penalty Minutes. With 3,966 PIM’s (4,421 PIM’s including playoffs) under his belt, Williams was simply one of the best enforcers of the 70’s and 80’s.
While racking up a league-leading 343 PIM’s during the 1980-81 season, he managed to light the lamp 35 times for the Vancouver Canucks, which lead the team that year.
Williams lead the team to his only Stanley Cup appearance that season, but got swept out of the Finals by the New York Islanders.
Side note: A Canadian punk rock band called The Hanson Brothers started a campaign of sorts to get Tiger Williams into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He never made it in.
5. Tie Domi (1989-2006)
6 of 10During his hay day, Tie Domi may have been the most hated player in the league outside the teams he played with. Domi played the crowd better than anyone, whether it was the home crowd or the opposing team’s crowd.
Long before Aaron Rodgers and Triple H were doing the now infamous belt-gesture that signified who the champ was, Tie Domi was doing that on the ice—most notably on February 9th, 1992 when he firstcollided with and started what would become the most talked about enforcer rivalry of all time with the legendary Bob Probert.
Domi and Probert would go on to beat each other’s brains out a total of eight times over their careers. Probert would get the best of him in almost all the fights, but he did not care. He loved to fight and he wanted to fight.
Of the enforcers that could actually play Domi is towards the bottom of the list, however, he did post 15 goals and 29 points in the 2002-03 season.
Domi never had the pleasure of drinking from Lord Stanley’s cup. The closest he ever got was the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals when he and the Toronto Maple Leafs were bounced out of the playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-2 series defeat.
He did lead the league with 347 PIM’s during the 1993-94 season. He also ranks third all-time with 3515 career PIM’s.
Side note: Tie Domi's mom was so upset with him for fighting all the time that she never watched his games.
He was also suspended for eight games for squirting a water bottle on a heckling fan while sitting in the penalty box. The glass gave way and the fan fell into the box and then Domi proceeded to get a few licks in before security could break it up. Charges were never filed.
4. Marty McSorley (1983-2000)
7 of 10Currently No. 4 on the all-time PIM’s list with 3,381, Marty McSorley was best known for his main role as Wayne Gretzky’s body guard. He protected the Great One in Edmonton and was a part of that trade that sent Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings.
What the vast majority of people know about McSorley stems from an incident involving him hitting Donald Brashear in the back of the head with his stick. An absolute lapse in judgment that resulted in him never playing in the NHL again has caused most people to overlook what a great career he had.
As a career defensemen that could skate, McSorley also spent a little time at the wing position. He had six seasons of at least 10 goals and five seasons of at least 30 points—capped off with 41 points and a league leading 399 PIM’s during the 1992-1993 season.
McSorley, Gretzky and the Kings came up short that year losing the series to the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. He did win back to back Stanley Cups with the Oilers in ’87 and ’88.
He was known as an ultimate team guy who prided himself on his work ethic. I hope that the good things he did on the ice, as well as off the ice, will eventually overshadow the one black mark that ended his career.
Side note: Marty McSorley had epic battles with Stu Grimson, Bob Probert, Rob Ray and Tie Domi, but something that not many people may realize is that he assisted on the goal that Wayne Gretzky netted to break Gordie Howe’s all-time goalscoring record.
3. Dave "The Hammer" Schultz (1971-1980)
8 of 10This guy epitomized what fighting in hockey was during the 70’s. A member of the Flyer's notorious Broad Street Bullies, he lead that team of degenerate badasses through six years of violence.
He and the rest of the BSB’s made it known that they were out to hurt their opponents. Bill Clement was quoted as saying in the HBO Documentary called Broad Street Bullies (A must watch for any hockey fan), “We weren’t coming to just win, we were coming to kick the s*#t out of you.”
The Hammer was an integral part of the Broad Street Bullies teams that won back to back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. During the ’73-’74 Cup run, Schultz had 20 tallies and 36 points to go along with 348 PIM’s.
During the ’74-’75 Cup run, he ended up with just nine goals and 26 points. However, that season he ended up with 472 PIM’s—a record that still stands today.
He did put together four seasons of at least 10 goals and 30 points, which is really good for one of the league’s all-time bruisers. He ended his career with 2,294 career PIM’s and 200 career points.
Side note: Dave Schultz was the first player to actually wear boxing wraps during games. He started using them to protect a wrist injury, but it turned into something that all the enforcers of that era started doing.
Because of that, the NHL went and passed the “Schultz Rule” which banned boxing wraps from being used.
2. Terry "Bloody" O'Reilly (1971-1985)
9 of 10Terry O’Reilly may arguably be the best enforcer there ever was and had no lack of skill with the puck whatsoever.
The 1977 season started a string of five straight where the Bruin great racked up at least 200 PIM’s. In that ’77 season, he lit it up for 29 goals and 90 points with 211 PIM’s. His 61 assists tied for sixth that year. He followed that season up with 26 goals and 77 points to go along with 205 PIM’s during the ’78 season.
He was the Bruins Captain for the ’83 and ’84 seasons. He finished his career with 2,095 PIM’s and played his entire career with the Boston Bruins.
He would go on to coach the Bruins to the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals where they were swept by Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers.
Side note: After a game at Madison Square Garden, a fan stole a teammate’s hockey stick. O’Reilly climbed up over the glass and went into the stands. His teammates followed suit when other fans started getting involved. He ended up getting suspended for eight games.
1. Bob Probert (1985-2002)
10 of 10Considered by many, including myself, to be single best fighter to ever lace up the skates, Bob Probert split his career with the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks.
While playing with the Red Wings, he put up his best statistical season with 29 goals and 62 points during the ’87-’88 season. He also sat in the sin bin for 398 minutes, which lead the league that year.
He posted a total of four seasons of at least 40 points and three seasons of at least 300 PIM’s.
He was also linemates with “Joltin’” Joey Kocur and were later named the Bruise Brothers. The two became great friends and remained friends even after Probert left. However, a bench clearing brawl between the Wings and Blackhawks found Probert and Kocur right in the middle of it.
Everyone was just swinging away when they turned and grabbed each other, not knowing who each other was, and started throwing bombs. Finally realizing who it was they were fighting with, they continued to trade blows with each other until the refs broke it up.
Probi had many long-standing rivalries with the likes of Stu “Grim Reaper” Grimson, Marty McSorley (including a memorable 100-second fight), Rob Ray and Craig Coxe, but none was more heated than his rivalry with Tie Domi.
He and Domi went at it eight times over their careers and Probert mainly came out on top, but it was that little pest (Domi) that just wouldn’t quit. They later became friends after they were both retired.
Probert ended a great career with 163 goals and 384 points to go along with 3,300 PIMs which is good for fifth all time.
Side note: Bob Probert and Tie Domi would renew their rivalry, but on a different stage. In October of 2009, the two competed on a Canadian television show called the Battle of the Blades.
Bob Probert; June 5th, 1965 - July 5th, 2010 (R.I.P.)
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