Nicklas Lidstrom, Jarome Iginla and 8 Other NHL Players Impossible to Hate

If you've ever played sports, or competed in any event that pit you against one or more opponents, you likely know that one of the hardest things to do is to give the other side anything resembling praise.

Respect, that's easy.

After all, if you don't respect the opposition, you don't respect the game and you probably don't respect yourself.

But respecting your enemy, and praising your enemy are two very different things.

In the NHL, fans and players alike can name a slew of men whom they respect, as opponents, as players, maybe even as people.

But liking a player on another team, well, that's something else again.

Identifying those players who fall into the "most hated" category is easy, and there's no shortage of lists out there, many on this very site, that will detail who is among the hated and why.

But, trying to figure out which players are essentially "un-hateable" is a decidedly tougher task.

When considering who to place on this list, I thought of a few things.

First, they had to be players of the quality and skill that more often than not usher in doom for their opposition.

It's easy to not hate a marginal player, but not hating a player that could send your team packing on a nightly basis is a tougher feat.

Second, being a "nice guy" couldn't be a deciding factor.

True, you might see a couple of Lady Bing winners on here, but that's really not what I'm trying to highlight here.  It is possible to play the game hard and mean and still be impossible to hate.

Lastly, I wanted to find guys that other players would pick.

Admittedly, this was largely my imagination at work here as I don't have the e-mail addresses of NHL players readily on hand.  But, the idea is that if you floated these names to other NHLers and asked if they could ever imagine hating them, the answer would be a resounding "no."

So, let's get our love on and find out who among the NHL elite is impervious to all those haters out there.

Jarome Iginla

Again, this is not a list of our favorite Lady Bing Trophy winners.

Jarome Iginla plays a mean game and will not hesitate to drop his gloves.

He has the ability to score at will, and often does, and is nearly impossible to contain when on his game.

He can best your team's tough guy in a fight and then rip a beautiful wrister past your goalie in OT to send your team home, utterly defeated.

Still, who among us can imagine ever hating Jarome Iginla?

Iggy plays the game hard, but he plays it honest and better than most.  He's a player's player and that may be why he'll always be among the most hate-proof guys in the game.

Nicklas Lidstrom

Over the past 20 years, few players have sent their opponents back to their own bench spewing out f-bombs and smashing their sticks more than Nicklas Lidstrom.

No matter how thoroughly one thinks he may have him beaten, more often than not, Lidstrom will not only pick apart a player's offensive plans, but leave him scrambling to go on the defensive soon after.

Ask any NHL player and he'll tell you, Nick Lidstrom is one of the most frustrating guys to play against.

Still, no one in the NHL hates the guy, and if he played another 20 years (and who can honestly rule that out at this point), no one ever would.

Dustin Brown

When encountering his boyish face, soft-spoken voice and "aw-shucks" attitude off the ice, one wouldn't hesitate to think that Dustin Brown is a man no one could ever possibly hate.

But, contrasted with his bone-crushing hits, infuriating tenacity and offensive weaponry on the ice, one sees a player that more than a few opponents wouldn't mind getting their hands on in a dark alley somewhere.

Brown is one of the hardest hitters in the NHL and is the captain of a young, often-cocky team on the rise.

Hating him would be understandable given those realities, but he is actually one of the most respected and well-liked young stars in the game.

Tim Thomas

I'm convinced that Hollywood will one day make a movie of Tim Thomas' life.

I mean, his story really writes itself.

A blue collar kid from Flint, Michigan with dreams of playing in the NHL works his tail off his whole life to get there.

He delivers pizza and sells used cars to pay for equipment and ice-time his parents cannot afford on their own.

He gets drafted, but never gets a shot with the big club.

He goes overseas and hones his skills, all the while becoming an NHL after-thought.

At 32, he gets his first legitimate shot at the NHL and six years later, he raises the Stanley Cup.

It's a story of determination and passion that, were it actually a movie, you'd have a hard time believing could be possible.

There's that, and then there's his out-of-his-mind performance in last year's playoffs and his brilliant handling of the "tire pumping" controversy.

Forget not hating him, how can you not love Timmy Thomas?

Jonathan Toews

I am a heart and soul, blood and guts, dyed-in-the-wool Detroit Red Wings fan.

As such, I have nothing but disdain for the Chicago Blackhawks.

When they won the Stanley Cup in 2010, I toasted their accomplishment and said, "Here's to another 49 years of failure."

I don't ever want to see the Blackhawks win another Stanley Cup in my lifetime, and I'd prefer my children live the rest of their lives without ever witnessing such horror.

All that said, I really like Jonathan Toews and find the prospect of anyone hating this kid an impossibility.

Set aside the gold medal, the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup, the kid is as talented as they come, a tireless worker, has tremendous hockey-sense and the maturity of a 40-year-old veteran.

You can hate on the 'Hawks all day long (in fact, please do), but there's no way anyone could extend that hate to the Chicago captain.

Ryan Miller

It seems that every year around playoff time, when people are penning their Stanley Cup predictions, the Buffalo Sabres somehow find their way into the conversation.

Forget about their rabid and fiercely loyal fan base at home; national pundits and even fans of other teams always want to give Buffalo some love and list the reasons why they might be able to make it all the way to the Cup Finals.

Maybe it's the small-market, underdog status of the team, maybe it's the fact that the team actually boasts a pretty good roster from year to year and should  be making a play for the Finals.

Whatever the reason, the Sabres are the 'Rudy' of the NHL.

As for Ryan Miller, Buffalo's All-American, boy-next door, superstar goalie, he's kind of like the kid in high school you wanted desperately to hate because he seemed so perfect in every way, but was so damn nice to you that feeling anything but affection for him was impossible.

Shane Doan

Talk about being loyal to a fault.

Shane Doan has played for the same franchise for 15 years, endured a relocation, multiple rebuilds, a slew of coaching changes and now, a prolonged ownership quandary despite never getting out of the second round of the playoffs, let alone coming close to a Stanley Cup berth.

He's never demanded a trade or trash-talked his team in the media and has expressed nothing but hopeful optimism about his team's future.

In addition, he's almost guaranteed to pot 20-plus goals a season, leads his team on and off the ice and continues to play a punishing physical game despite the mounting toll that habit has had on his body.

He is everything a franchise could ask for in a player, and for that, he will go down as one of the most un-hateable players in recent NHL history.

Rick Nash

Including Rick Nash on this list might be a bit controversial for the simple fact that there seems to be a wave of anti-Nash sentiment among the Columbus faithful (yeah, there's a few of them) each year.

It typically rises when it becomes clear that the Blue Jackets are not going to make the playoffs and the calls for the team to "strip Nash of the 'C'" ratchet up, as if his captaincy is to blame for the lack of progress.

Hopefully, this offseason has gone a long way toward stamping out those cries should they arise again.

Aside from his imposing size and All-Star offensive talent, Nash is maturing into one of the better young captains in the NHL.

From publicly encouraging his teammates to take ownership of their success and failure to actively participating in the recruitment efforts that landed James Wisniewski this summer, Rick Nash, like the aforementioned Doan, is putting his cards on the table and betting on his team turning around sooner rather than later.

Mike Fisher

Mike Fisher is the kind of player every team would welcome into their locker room, and not just because Carrie Underwood might be right behind him.

His dedication to a superb two-way game, physical toughness and ever-positive attitude make home both an ideal teammate and fan favorite, once in Ottawa and now in Nashville.

In fact, it was the tumultuous environment in Ottawa that served to highlight Fisher's professionalism and dedication to the game.

While some of his teammates were demanding trades and bad mouthing the organization to the press, Mike Fisher simply kept his head down and tried to make the best of an increasingly bad situation.

Additionally, his charity work with children and the youth hockey camp he runs in the summer indicate that this guy has his heart in the right place when it comes to giving back to the game that's given him so much.

Martin St. Louis

In the span of just 12 seasons, Martin St. Louis has evolved from a pint-sized, ineffective forward in Calgary to a Stanley Cup-winning offensive star for Tampa Bay in 2004, to his current role as one of the most effective and respected elder-statesmen in the NHL.

He's done all of this while still keeping his head about him, committing to tireless work both on and off the ice, and staying loyal to a Tampa Bay franchise that was the joke of the league just two seasons ago.

Perhaps the only reason to not like Marty St. Louis is the fact that he's apparently less than honest about his official height.

He's listed at 5'9", a measurement he might reach wearing his skates and standing on a phone book.

Still, the fact that you've got to get that petty to find a reason to dislike the guy is evidence enough that, in the end, there's really no reason to.

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