Every hockey team needs its tough guy.
Sure, the skilled players tend to get the most attention (and money), but their job wouldn’t necessarily be possible without a scrapper watching over their shoulder. The importance of having an enforcer was recently displayed when the Pittsburgh Penguins traded a first round pick to the St. Louis Blues for towering forward Ryan Reaves. Most hockey fans would agree that the move was made strictly for the protection of Sidney Crosby.
Though most teams have at least one bully on their team, we identified who each one is on Canada’s seven teams.
Calgary Flames: Matthew Tkachuk
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Tkachuk entered the NHL last season with a ‘don’t mess with me” attitude. The 2016 sixth overall pick led the Flames with 105 penalty minutes while managing to collect 48 points throughout the season. With an overall game beyond his years, Tkachuk is a guy you want in battle on a game-to-game basis.
Edmonton Oilers: Milan Lucic
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Arguably the most feared player in the game, Lucic is another well-rounded player that you wouldn’t want to mess with. Zack Kassian (101 PIM) makes a very good argument for the Oilers, however ‘Luc’ (50 PIM) has proven in the past that he is not to be messed with. If the two were on opposing teams, they would make for a very compelling fight.
Superstar Connor McDavid can’t help but feel protected.
Montreal Canadiens: Andrew Shaw
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Shaw is tough mainly for two reasons. 1) He would likely scrap anyone in the league, and 2) he parks himself in front of the net without a visor on a game-to-game basis. The Belleville native led the team by a landslide with 110 penalty minutes.
Ottawa Senators: Mark Borowiecki
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Behind unrestricted free ageny Chris Neil, who was easily the team’s toughest player during his time with the team, Borowiecki is the next in line. Dion Phaneuf isn’t an ideal guy to pick a fight with either, but the former gets the nod as a result of having 154 penalty minutes in just 70 games.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Matt Martin
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This one is a bit of a no-brainer.
Martin led the Leafs with 123 PIM and is the player teams need to go through if they want to mess with its valuable young crop. The next highest PIM total surprisingly belonged to Nazem Kadri, who amassed 96 in 82 games.
Vancouver Canucks: Derek Dorsett
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For years, Dorsett has been one of the NHL’s roughest enforcers. The winger sat out a majority of last season due to a neck injury, but reached penalty minute totals of 177, 175 and 128 in the previous three seasons. Dorsett is relatively small for a fighter, standing at just 6’0 feet and 192 pounds.
Winnipeg Jets: Dustin Byfuglien
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Had Chris Thorburn still been a Jet, he likely would have gotten the nod considering he voluntarily drops the gloves more than Byfuglien. He’s gone, so Buff earns the title.
Byfuglien is a bit of an anomaly. He’s 6’5 feet 260 pounds, and is probably the one guy in the league who players wouldn't want to mess with. He led the Jets in penalty minutes with 117, however he doesn’t tend to fight very often. Still, he is the Jets’ toughest player and and arguably the scariest skater in the league.
