9 Best Trash Talkers in NHL History

Trash talking is an art form, plain and simple.

The guys who are good at it make a name for themselves by constantly being able to have something to say that will drive one of their opponents over the edge.

The guys who aren't so good at it, well, they mostly get laughed at by the guys who are really good at it as they are being humiliated.

The great part about the trash talker is that it doesn't have to be a fighter who does it—some of the superstar players are among the best trash talkers in the history of the game.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and look at nine of the top trash talkers in the history of the NHL.

Theo Fleury

Theo Fleury was an incredibly skilled player, which is a very good thing considering his size.

Fleury never did let that size of his stop him from getting involved in some slightly hairy situations. He went to the net hard and made no bones about what he had to do in order to get there.

Similarly to the play in the video above, Fleury took a few penalties in his time but always made an effort not to be the only guy taken off.

He'd go find somebody and get right in their face, chirping and yapping in order to get somebody to take a penalty.

I remember a series against the Detroit Red Wings during Fleury's all-too-short stay in Colorado where he blew a kiss at Chris Chelios while trying to get him to take a penalty.

Chelios didn't get him there, but Fleury and the Avs did have the last laugh in that particular series.

As amazingly skilled as Fleury was with his stick, he was almost as good with his lips.

Chris Chelios

Chris Chelios is one of the best defensemen to every play the game of hockey.

He had it all. He could skate, he could hit, he could pass, he could shoot and the guy ccould talk a good game as well.

There's no doubting the passion that Chelios played with during his time in the league, and the footage above shows how amped up he could get.

Chelli, as he is called, definitely never had a problem with telling his opponents what was on his mind.

Chris Pronger

Chris Pronger is well renowned in the NHL for being a player who likes to have fun with the press, but he definitely never shies away from verbal battles.

Of course, why anybody would want to try and engage this guy in any type of battle is beyond me. He's huge!

Though if you do call out good ole' Chris Pronger, he'll get back at you, just like in the clip above.

"Where's that, in the minors?" ZING!

I'm sure Adam Burish thought he was being a big guy when he said he'd punch Chris Pronger in the face the next time he saw him, but Pronger is an old hat at this.

Pronger is capable of putting people in their place both physically and verbally.

Patrick Roy

Patrick Roy is the best goalie to ever play the game and has three Conn Smythe Trophies to help prove that.

One thing that he was always very good at is talking trash.

Whether it be with the "Statue of Liberty" saves that he loved to make, the extra wink he would give you right after robbing you blind or this fun little exchange that he had with Jeremy Roenick, Patrick could always give you a little extra jab with his words.

Another one of my favorite lines of his came against the Florida Panthers in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final when he was asked about the rats being thrown on the ice.

Essentially, he said he let a couple in so that the fans who brought rats in didn't have to take them home because it would be sad for them.

St. Patrick had some pretty amazing one-liners.

Claude Lemieux

Claude Lemieux is one of the most hated players in the history of the National Hockey League.

He is best remembered for his hit on Kris Draper that ignited one of the greatest rivalries that the NHL has ever seen between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings.

Aside from being a physical menace on the ice, Lemieux sure knew how to run his mouth and he did it often.

With Lemieux, it was a little bit of everything. He'd hit you, slash you, punch you and then go score against you.

You'd better believe that he let you hear about it every single step of the way as well.

Bobby Clarke

Bobby Clarke was a member of the Broad Street Bullies Flyers teams that everybody in the entire league hated because of how dirty they played.

That was a completely different era where that type of play was expected and rarely policed.

As despised as that Flyers team was, you know that they were only that hated because they were so good at it, and Bobby Clarke was one of the best.

Just as he did against the Soviets, Clarke had no trouble finding a guy, slashing him hard across his ankles and then talking up a storm to him about how he would do it again if he came anywhere near him again.

Those Flyers teams were amazing in the efficiency of their physicality. They just beat teams down, and Bobby Clarke was one of the best.

Steve Ott

I think my favorite line about Steve Ott in this particular feature from TSN is "He yaps like a girl on the playground."

Trash talking is absolutely the best feature in Ott's game, and he has turned it into an art form.

Steve Ott is really the only person I have ever seen who can drive Jarome Iginla over the edge.

Iginla is a guy who will fight usually as a way to stir up his own team and get the juices flowing on his bench. The only exception to this is when the Flames play the Dallas Stars because Ott is always all over him.

If you can make Iginla, who is really one of the coolest customers in the game of hockey, go absolutely mad like that, you know you're quite good at what you do.

Ott is one of the top agitators in the NHL today and his ability to trash talk helps him out.

Sean Avery

Sean Avery is easily one of the most hated men in the NHL today, for several reasons.

Not the least of which is his ability to just yap your ear off from one end of the ice all the way to the other just hoping that you'll take a swing at him and give his team a power play.

This clip above is a perfect example of what Avery does best.

He is a very physical player and can knock somebody down and then he will literally follow them from end to end reminding them of what he just did until they just can't take it anymore.

Avery does, on occasion, allow himself to go places where he just shouldn't go, but that's just his game. He will literally say whatever he can to get somebody off of their game, and he's one of the best at it.

Matthew Barnaby

If there were a PhD program for trash talking, then Matthew Barnaby is the guy against whom you would have to defend your doctoral thesis.

This guy is the absolute best of the best (Barnaby's slide begins at 6:02 of the clip) when it comes to talking trash and agitating members of the other team.

One of the most iconic images of Matthew Barnaby is of him in a fight where he is tangled against the boards. His opponent is trying to get loose to throw some punches as Barnaby just stands against the boards shouting "Wooo!!!" for about five seconds before starting to wail on his opponent.

Barnaby just had something to say to anything and an interesting facial expression to go along with it.

If you have some names you'd like to add to the list, please feel free to do so in the comments section.