Official hockeyfights.com All-Time Top 10

[Jeff Hanson]

1. Probert
2. Brown
3. Wilson
4. Gillies
5. Kocur
6. Fotiu
7. McSorely
8. Semenko
9. Twist
10. Kordic

My list is partial to players from the late 80's and early 90's as I am 32. I am probably not paying as much homage as I should to some the 70's fighters who are on some lists.

But the fighters from the late 80's and early 90's (Pre Buttman Era) had a alot of heavyweight fighters to go at night after night and they were tested on a regular basis.

Guys like Kordic, Twist, Kocur and McSorely fought often and did most of the dirty work for their respective teams back in the days when an NHL game used to average almost 2 fights a game.

[EDDIESHORETOEBLAKE]

Current standings going into '03-'04

(1) Probert
(2) Brown
(3) Wilson
(4) Kocur
(5) Gillies
(6) McSorley
(7) Fotiu
(8) Nystrom
(9) Playfair
(10) Twist (Finally enters the All-Time Top 10)

[2,5,10GameMatch]

quoteOriginally posted by slick
My top 20 of all time and in their prime.

I've seen some scraps that don't make the front pages because they are not considered enforcers, such as, at the Mtl. Forum, I saw Bobby Orr beat the crap out of Phil Roberto and Ken Dryden ( yea Ken Dryden ) punch out Derek Sanderson, this all happened in the same bench clearing brawl.

When the punches are even at 50 - 50, it's who has the hardest jaw who wins. A good fighter lands the punches, he doesn't receive them.

1...Bob Probert on Detroit
2...Dave Semenko, Wayne's protector.
3...Orland Kurtenbach, not a velcro man.
4...John Ferguson, Big Bad John
5...George Laraque, number one right now.
6...Cris Simon, deadly southpaw.
7...Carol Vadnais, very tough.
8...Tony Twist, the twister.
9...Wendel Clark, wild.
10..Stan Jonathan, middleweight champ, pit bull.
11..Larry Robinson, a super reach, they didn't call him big bird for nothing, only Garry Howatt gave him a hard time.
12..Rosaire Paiement, very tough.
13..Tie Domi, pit bull.
14..Bob Nystrom, the windmill.
15..Clark Gillies, super strong.
16..Ken Hodge, super strong.
17..Wayne Cashman, deadly southpaw.
18..Tim Hunter, very tough.
19..Dave Brown, very tough.
20..Garry Howatt, pit bull.
(Quote)
7-Carol Vadnais? you serious?
12- Rosey Paiment? your kidding?
16- Ken Hodge? your a Bruins fan right?
Vadnais- from what i saw of him he was fat and slow, very unimpressive.
I never saw the other 2 fight but i heard Semenko almost punched out Rosies eye in the WHA.Historians aside , i have never heard of 1 instance of Ken Hodge being good with his fists, can you clarify that for me?

[slick]

My error ihavefighttapes, your right about Semenko thumping Rosaire Paiement.
Who I ment instead of Rosaire was Wilf Paiement. The toughs would rather take on Dale Hunter and just by-pass Wilf because they just knew his strength as a fighter.
A good fighter only last around 4 to 5 years, thats his prime, after that, some young stud is waiting in the shadows ready to take over the crown, like Probert when he was shifted to Chicago. Carol Vadnais is the same, in his prime on the Canadiens and then with Oakland but after that, it was slowly down hill after that.
I don't have to be a Boston fan to appreciate good fighters, I'm actuality a Habs fan being from Montreal but right now I'm kind of laying low, not much rough stuff happening here. I am also a Verdun Dragons fan, in the Q league, when I want to see some scraps the Dragons won't let me down, this team is tough !

Ken Hodge, when ever the Bruins were being instigated by some REAL TOUGH, the coach sent Hodge on the ice. He would tap this tough on the shoulder, talk a bit and the pressure tactics of the other team stopped or else they would have to take on Hodge.
When ever Hodge did fight, he won, he didn't fight as much as the other players but at the time, he was like the Ace in the hole, the coach knew it and so did the other teams.
I know you might say that Cashman lost to Dave the hammer Shultz but I saw that fight.
Cashman was in the corner trying to freeze the puck for a whistle, pinning the puck to the boards using his skates, when Shultz came from behind, dropped his gloves and just thumped away on Cashman. Cashman didn't even know he was in a fight until it was all over. Shultz even pulled hair in those days - I think his moto was,
WHEN IN DOUBT, KNOCK EM OUT ! thats why he still holds the P.I.M. record in the NHL.
The best thing I have to say about the Broad Street Bully's is when they played against the Russian Red Army hockey team at the Spectrum, and won, it was beautiful, everybody was pulling for them, the Russians were scared ****less, they didn't even come out of the dressing room after a period to continue the game until somebody talked to them.

I would love to see Brandon Sugar Sugden get into the NHL, to see how does against the BOYS. ( I know, another Sugar fan )
He is now in the Syracuse Crunch camp, on a try-out - Syracuse is an AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, heres hoping.

[khawk20]

My top ten, for what it's worth

1)bob Probert
2)marty mcSorley
3)Dave Brown
4)George McPhee
5)Bob Nystrom
6)Glen Cochrane
7)Stan Johnathan
8)Rick Tocchet
9)John kordic
10)Dave Semenko

[EDDIESHORETOEBLAKE]

McPhee at No.4? Hmmm . . . interesting . . . that should certainly create some debate . . .

[khawk20]

McPhee is my personal favourite. he didn't go as often as a lot of the regular heavyweights, but then again I don't think Nystrom went a ton by comparison, either.

When McPhee DID go, he was a pure joy to watch.

He only got beat in the Kordic fight because the linsemen got in too earyl and held him up. The Brown fight, Jay Caufield also prematurely jumped in.

Love those smallish, fearless fighters.

[BuffaloBrawler]

Bold choice to place Tochett in the top ten, I like it, but I'm going to refrain from putting him in my top ten...
1. McSorely
2. Probert
3. Playfair
4. Semenko
5. Brown
6. King Kong Korab (homer pick)
7. Kocur
8. Domi
9. Kordic (Rambo)
10.Knuckles Nilan

[EDDIESHORETOEBLAKE]

McSorley's first Number 1 vote [)], and Korab's first appearance in a Top 10 - nice job . . .

[khawk20]

Can you give me a list of some of Korab's wins? I have heard he was good but I have not seen much if anything on video of his work.

[KiddYidd]

I am not even sure if I am qualified to put a top 10 list but here it goes


1.Bob Probert- Just a tremendous fight card and to be that good for so long is pretty amazing. What impressed me the most is the revenge factor he always seemed to avenge his losses and usually in stunning fashion.
2. Behn Wilson- saw some footage on this guy and and was very impressed, great uppercut and was a abolsute maniac....just loved to fight.
3. Dave Brown- Going mostly by others on the site...loved his fight with George mcphee.
4. Nick Fotiu- Just what he did for the Ranger franchise was enough to put him that high.
5.- Joey Kocur- My alltime favorite fighter, one of the most feared and respected fighter in the league....his fight card sucked but is that really his fault?...his losses were nothing losses in my opinion and some of his KO's were downright nasty and anytime u can break an Islander players jaw(dalgarno) its a good thing[D]
6. Clark Gillies- Have to admit that he was devastating...remember watching the game when he broke Hospodars jaw...i was telling my friends how tough hospodar was and he was gonna destroy Gillies...well u can imagine the embarrasement i felt....not only were the islanders winning stanley cups and usually getting there over the Rangers but now are players were getting there asses kicked...that loss to Behn wilson was pretty big.
7.- Nystrom- I didnt think is victory of Fotiu was that big either but he was very impressive...very quick hands...didnt see a lot but judging from most others voting on the site he deserves to be top 10
8- Stan johnathan- saw very little but was impressed with what i did see...for someone that size, pound for pound he was the real deal.

9. Marty Mcsorley- Just a great enforcer/bodyguard...I thought he had a very impressive victory of Kocur...havent seen to many guys look impressive against him.
10.- Tony Twist- Finally saw a tape of this guy and see why some people would put him in the top 10.

I was going through this thread and realized that just like the 70's and 80's guys loved to hurt people when fighting the posters of a a year and half ago showed a helluva a lot more passion then today's fighters and posters.


Where is jmiller and Reaper???

[EDDIESHORETOEBLAKE]

Well its about f'n time Kidd [] . . .

[KiddYidd]

ESTB- I have always been a huge fight fan but admit I have seen little coverage of some of the all time greats until joining this site. I really wish I could of seen footage of the Jack Carlsons and wensinks of the world but this will have to do for now....maybe down the road I will change my list if I ever get the opportunity to witness these guys go.

[ranger27]

I'm getting in this discussion late, but I can't resist.
1)Probert, in his prime best ever, Period.
2)Kocur, took a swing at Dennis Vial once, missed him and hit the glass, sounded like a Bobby Hull slapshot hitting the glass
3)Twist, arguably the only fighter nobody wanted to fight.
4)McSorley, his fights were showtime, some of them lasted for days, often bloody
5)Fotiu, sentimental favorite, golden glove boxer laced up the skates and brought respect to the Rangers, hit Holmgren with 8-9 straight rights one night and erased all memories of Schultz-Rolfe and Schultz-Middleton.
6)Danny Maloney, awesome puncher, could be argued that his beating of Brian Glennie was the beginning of the end of the real violence in the game.
7)Jonathan, a human fire hydrant. put everything in to every punch.
8)Brown, I hate it, a Flyer, horrible cheap shot on Sanstrom, but he was spectacular, maybe the best southpaw ever.
9)Gillies, first a Flyer now an Islander, forgive me. I saw him lose a couple of times but when he got it going he punished people. Just overwhelmed and beat the daylights out of my favorite player of all time-Teddy Irvine-the father of wrestler Chris Jericho.
10)It's a tie!!! Kurtenbach(read what Derek Sanderson said about him in his book!) Bob "Battleship" Kelly, Tiger Williams, Chris Nilan - poor man's McSorley, Larry Robinson - you had to see him fight to appreciate him. Barry Beck - same as Robinson, Scott Stevens 30 or 35 years ago -all star player, all star fighter. Willi Plett. Garry Howatt, eeks another Islander, fought virtually every night. Larry Playfair - won the NHL's arm wrestling contest and won every fight I ever saw him in. But let's face it back in the day, before the "Euro's" everyone could at least take care of themselves and occasionally mix it up. C'mon even Bobby Orr would take care of his own business. What made the old time fighters more exciting is there was no wrestling or jockeying to try to get the other guy's helmet off (They weren't wearing helmets!), you just dropped the gloves and started throwing.

[5 and a game misconduct]

quote2)Kocur, took a swing at Dennis Vial once, missed him and hit the glass, sounded like a Bobby Hull slapshot hitting the glass

It was acctually the other way around. Vial missed Kocur and hit the glass.