Lineage of the Heavyweight Champ & Top Ten Lists '75-'07

[Juha82]

Originally Posted by Juha82

1.B.Probert(just convincing)
2.D.Brown(pummeled Bomber big time)
3.J.Kocur(the best win%, but not the best card)
4.J.McKenzie(very strong work, TKO's Twister)
5.T.Domi(great battle with Probert, TKO's Odjick)
6.T.Twist(one of the best win%)
7.L.Gaetz(you see his TKO wins over McKay and Peluso and a great battle against Probert)
8.G.Odjick(one of the best card, good fights with McSorley)
9.B.McRae(worthy win over Grimson, a lot of good fights)
10.C.Berube(a great card, he didn't beat anyone, but does a good job)

Honourable mentions;

1.S.Grimson
2.D.Kimble
3.S.Churla
4.L.Odelein
5.K.Baumgartner(you see his fights against Domi, Nilan and Byers in the same game, McKay, McRae2x and Kocur, dropping his mitts against Brown)

Credit too for R.McKay and M.Vukota.

Changing the 91-92 list, Bomber is nro9.
Berube's rank 10.
McRae to hM.

[Juha82]

Originally Posted by Juha82

1.B.Probert(TKO's Domi, wins over Hunter and Berube)
2.G.Odjick(not much really loses, a great fight against McSorley, draw against Grimson, win over Baumgartner, just narrow loss to Domi)
3.S.Grimson(wins over McSorley and Kimble, fought against Brown and Probert)
4.M.McSorley(KO's Odgers, won Clark and Berube, a great draw with Grimson and Odjick)
5.K.Baumgartner(wins over Grimson2x, McSorley and Vial)
6.J.McKenzie(TKO's Twist, wins over McKay and Hunter)
7.L.Debrusk(strong card, beat Byers, won McKay)
8.J.Kocur(KO's Eagles, TKO's Wilkinson, won McRae, not so great card)
9.R.Ray(wins over Brown and Domi, at least once)
10.T.Domi(wins over Odjick and Ciccone, TKO's A.May)

Honourable mentions;

1.M.Peluso
2.L.Odelein
3.M.Roberge
4.W.Clark
5.D.Kimble

i changed 92-93 list bit.
Kocur off of Top10, no HM for him.
R.Ray's rank 8.
C.Berube has 9.
Domi's 10.

HM's;
1.W.Clark
2.M.Peluso
3.L.Odelein
4.M.Roberge
5.D.Kimble

[Juha82]

A very good season(93-94) by Odelein beating T.Hunter and hunging there with Brown, Probert, Kocur and McSorley.
I ranked him to Top10.

[Juha82]

Originally Posted by Juha82

1.S.McCarthy(wins over Grimson and Churla in hard scraps, fought 3x with Domi)
2.T.Twist(won Grimson)
3.C.Simon(won Brown, took revenge of hard Leroux)
4.S.Churla(great season, a lot of good fights, a strong card)
5.T.Domi(nice win over McRae, even if loses to Churla, was a good)
6.R.Ray(a good fights, loses to Vial and Huard in the same game but a couple day of his this he TKO's Vial)
7.D.Vial(good work, you see a draw against Kocur)
8.B.Huard(won Brown, win over Ray and a draw)
9.S.Grimson(fought much, but loses some, still okay year)
10.F.Leroux(wins over Laus, Simon and R.Simpson)

Honourable mentions;

1.J.Kocur
2.M.Peluso(won Laus)
3.M.Vukota
4.M.Johnson
5.P.Laus(won Ray, lost to Cummins, Peluso won him but fights a draw in next time, 2 good shows against Poeschek, you see his fight against B.Lindros, K.Chase and D.Lacroix, wasn't bad early on against Leroux but lost his situation in the end of the fight))

Lol i changed my list 94-95, pretty much different than this one.

1.S.McCarthy
2.T.Domi(even if losses to Churla was a good)
3.C.Simon(ok won Brown but Domi' had better card)
4.S.Churla
5.T.Twist
6.S.Grimson
7.R.Ray(concinving card+fights much, didn't losses to Jennings and Guerin)
8.F.Leroux(won Laus, Simpson and Simon)
9.D.Vial(draw with Kocur, won Ray)
10.M.Peluso

HM's:

1.J.Kocur
2.M.Johnson(a rookie who fights well with DOmi and Odjick)
3.B.Huard
4.M.Vukota
5.P.Laus(won Ray, lost to Cummer and Peluso but fights draw against Peluso next time, 2 good shows with Poeschek, a great draw against B.Lindros, not bad loss for Leroux)

[Juha82]

I changed my 95-96 list on this way;

1.T.Twist
2.S.McCarthy
3.R.ray
4.C.Simon
5.S.Grimson
6.T.Domi
7.B.Probert
8.J.McKenzie
9.D.VIal
10.K.Baumgartner

HM's:

1.P.Laus
2.M.McSorley
3.T.Ewen
4.R.Simpson
5.S.Antoski

[Juha82]

Changing my 96-97 list;

1.S.Grimson
2.T.Twist
3.D.Brashear
4.B.Probert
5.P.Laus
6.D.Kordic
7.J.McKenzie
8.T.Domi
9.M.McSorley
10.R.Ray

HM's:

1.D.Langdon
2.K.Belanger
3.B.Severyn
4.M.Johnson
5.K.King

[Juha82]

Changing my 97-98;

1.D.Brashear
2.D.Langdon
3.S.McCarthy
4.S.Grimson
5.D.Kordic
6.T.Domi
7.P.Laus
8.M.McSorley
9.K.Baumgartner
10.R.Simpson

HM's:

1.J.McKenzie
2.M.Vukota
3.T.Twist
4.R.Thompson
5.K.Oliwa

[Juha82]

Originally Posted by Juha82

1.B.Probert(no doubt, again better card than Kocur)
2.L.Byers(strong card, win over Gillies)
3.J.Miller(excellent card)
4.J.Kordic(wins over Byers and Miller)
5.K.Baumgartner(great rookie-year, a lot of great bouts)
6.M.McSorley(good card, wins over Hunter and Playfair)
7.J.Kocur(full of wins, but not the best card)
8.D.Brown(good card, not much of fights)
9.C.Nilan(you see a draw with Brown)
10.J.Paterson(you see win over Fotiu, some good shows)

Honourable mentions;

1.G.Donnelly(impressive card)
2.B.McRae(again active but losses too much)
3.R.Tocchet
4.C.Neely
5.G.Cochrane

Changing the list;

1.B.Probert
2.L.Byers
3.J.Miller
4.J.Kordic
5.K.Baumgartner
6.M.McSorley
7.J.Kocur
8.D.Brown
9.C.Nilan
10.G.Donnelly

HM's;

1.J.Paterson
2.B.McRae
3.T.Hunter
4.R.Tocchet
5.C.Neely

[Juha82]

Changing 98-99 list;

1.D.Brashear
2.S.Grimson
3.T.Domi
4.P.Laus
5.T.Twits
6.K.Oliwa
7.G.Laraque
8.J.Odgers
9.B.Probert
10.R.Ray

HM's;

1.P.Cote
2.P.Worrell
3.K.Belanger
4.G.Marshall(hey he drops Domi, a great fight with McSorley)
5.B.Myhres

[Juha82]

Changing 99-00 list;

1.B.Probert
2.S.McCarthy
3.S.Grimson
4.G.Laraque
5.E.Cairns
6.B.Brown
7.D.Brashear
8.K.Oliwa
9.R.Vandenbussche
10.P.Laus

HM's;

1.M.Johnson
2.D.Bonvie
3.C.Berube
4.L.Richardson
5.P.Worrell

[Juha82]

Changing 00-01 list;

1.D.Brashear
2.G.Laraque
3.S.Grimson
4.P.Worrell
5.J.McKenzie
6.C.McCallister
7.S.McCarthy
8.R.Low
9.T.Fedoruk
10.S.Parker

HM's;

1.M.Johnson
2.D.Purinton
3.W.Belak
4.T.Domi
5.B.Probert

[srehm1]

I love these lists. Behn Wilson is ranked #3 in 85-86. OK, cool, no prob.

He misses all of 86-87, but gets bumped up to #2 in the top-10 that year. Wow. The guy doesn't fight at all but gets the 2 spot.

In 87-88, he doesn't lose a fight, but is out of the top-10? Again, wow. If he was #2 the year before for not fighting, then how is he out of the top-10 for going undefeated this year?

Wilson should not be in the top-10 for 86-87 since he didn't play that year. He certainly shouldn't get bumped up a spot for doing nothing that year. I understand the lists here have a carry over effect and you have to consider the rankings coming in, but you're taking the "no clear losses" criteria to new heights with this one here. Yeah he didn't lose, but he never fought. If that happened in 07-08, no way he gets voted in on this site.

The funny thing is he goes into 87-88, doesn't fight a lot, but doesn't lose at all and wins most of his fights, and gets bumped from the top-10 for that year all together. The "no clear losses" criteria goes from new heights to new lows all in a 2 year span with these lists.

I admit to not having Wilson in my top-10 for 87-88 (86-87 as well). There were too many guys with better cards and great years for him to be included. I just have to point out this case with Wilson because it's such a glaring oversight. I love Wilson, but the most die hard Wilson fan couldn't possibly claim he had top-10 status for 86-87.

[Merlin401]

Originally Posted by srehm1

I love these lists. Behn Wilson is ranked #3 in 85-86. OK, cool, no prob.

He misses all of 86-87, but gets bumped up to #2 in the top-10 that year. Wow. The guy doesn't fight at all but gets the 2 spot.

In 87-88, he doesn't lose a fight, but is out of the top-10? Again, wow. If he was #2 the year before for not fighting, then how is he out of the top-10 for going undefeated this year?

Wilson should not be in the top-10 for 86-87 since he didn't play that year. He certainly shouldn't get bumped up a spot for doing nothing that year. I understand the lists here have a carry over effect and you have to consider the rankings coming in, but you're taking the "no clear losses" criteria to new heights with this one here. Yeah he didn't lose, but he never fought. If that happened in 07-08, no way he gets voted in on this site.

The funny thing is he goes into 87-88, doesn't fight a lot, but doesn't lose at all and wins most of his fights, and gets bumped from the top-10 for that year all together. The "no clear losses" criteria goes from new heights to new lows all in a 2 year span with these lists.

I admit to not having Wilson in my top-10 for 87-88 (86-87 as well). There were too many guys with better cards and great years for him to be included. I just have to point out this case with Wilson because it's such a glaring oversight. I love Wilson, but the most die hard Wilson fan couldn't possibly claim he had top-10 status for 86-87.

Whoa, great catch. I guess in looking at the stats as I was doing this I had forgotten he missed 86-87 and just mis-read his 87-88 come-back year stats as 86-87's stats (since any site just lists all his years without a line that says "did not play"). Looking at it correctly, it is just as you say: he should not be top 10 for either of those years.

Had 87-88's fights been his 86-87 year, his reputation would have carried him into the top 3 alone. The fact that it was a weak year for fighters is why it had bumped him up to two.

But thanks for catching a glaring error! Its fixed now. Everyone got shifted up a spot and I added Rick Tocchet (who basically went undefeated that year and was coming off a great year in Philly) for a spot mention. I didn't see many other options but I just glanced at most likely names for 10 minutes. I guess Chris Nilan might work but he fought about half as much as the two previous years.

[dipandmitts]

the best post i have ever read here. great info. great highlights of the year. awesome awesome post. thank you

[mikebflorida]

Outstanding stuff Merlin!!

Looking back on some of those names really brings the memories flooding back of how great guys like Brown, Kocur, Probert, Gillies, and others were.

Comparing to today's fighters, they would fit right in and do very well even as enforcers today are larger and "healthier".

Behn Wilson, Clark Gillies, Basil McRae, Hound Kelly, just really, really good stuff. Fights back then seemed more "manly" with today's fighters tying up a lot more and fighting more technical, not to mention some guys who wear face shields when they fight and all the goofy rules the league has handed down.

In my opinion hockey was at it's all time peak in the late 70's thru 1990, about a 12-15 year run of the BEST fighters of all time and the best fights of all time with few exceptions.

Thanks again, excellent work.