I wanted to take a look at the lack of tough guys that play defense in the NHL these days, so I decided to compare the fighting majors for defensemen in todays NHL vs. the NHL 15 years ago. Obviously fights were up across the board 15 years ago, but if you look at the players, you can tell this type of a defenseman is a thing of the past.
Listed below are top 15 defenseman for fighting majors this year, and 15 years ago.
2008 - 2009 season:
1 –
Steve Montador 13
2 –
Matt Greene 9
3 –
Shane O'Brien 9
4 –
Matt Walker 9
5 –
Sheldon Brookbank 8
6 –
Brad Staubitz 8
7 –
Jason Strudwick 8
8 –
Erik Reitz 7
9 – Luke Schenn 7
10 –
Craig Weller 7
11 – 7 players tied at 6
1993 - 1994 season:
1 -
Cam Russell 22
2 -
Dennis Vial 21
3 -
Ken Baumgartner* 18
4 -
Enrico Ciccone 18
5 -
Lyle Odelein 17
6 -
Greg Smyth 17
7 –
Rudy Poeschek 16
8 –
Doug Zmolek 15
9 –
Jamie Huscroft 14
10 –
Marty McSorley 14
11 – Dave Karpa 12
12 –
Brent Severyn 12
13 –
Paul Laus 11
14 –
Mark Tinordi 11
15 –
Terry Carkner 10
*played both defense and forward positions