2007-08 Worst Enforcing Team

[Merlin401]

Nominees

Buffalo Sabres
26 fights. Andrew Peters had a bad year as the heavyweight. Paul Guastad and Adam Mair basically gave up fighting. Kaleta wouldn't fight. The top lines and defense were soft. And their two best centers were playing in New York and Philadelphia. Not an inspiring year in the toughness department or in anyway else.

Detroit Red Wings
21 fights. The Wings carried Aaron Downey all year and despite finishing last in fights again, they certainly seemed to be sticking up for each other much better than in years past. Dallas Drake helped as well. Still, they pick up a nomination for old time's sake, if not for the low fight totals.

Los Angeles Kings
22 fights. Here's what they had beyond tough guy Raitis Ivanans: .... .... crickets? ... ... Kind of like Minnesota last year except the Kings were so bad, no one seemed to care enough to run them. If they improve one of these years, they better beef up a bit.

Montreal Canadiens
32 fights. The Canadiens to me are like what the San Jose Sharks were. A very talented group with a bunch of gritty guys, but they're missing a heavyweight to pull it all together. The Sharks got Jody Shelley. The Canadiens have Tom Kostopoulos. There ya go.

New York Islanders
29 fights. After Chris Simon beat his own record for longest suspension, the team seemed to abandon physical confrontation all together. They still were gritty but there was no protection in the lineup. Tim Jackman and Matthew Spiller occasionally were called up from Bridgeport to be beat up, but that hardly inspires fear. It doesn't help that Brendan Witt disappeared from the fighting column and Andy Sutton endured his usual major injury problems.

Toronto Maple Leafs
25 fights. Another dismal year in Leaf country as the team was miserable, fights nearly non-existent, and then long-time personable heavyweight Wade Belak was shipped away to Florida. That left enforcing to... Kris Newbury? The franchise is in shambles and they are not even fun to watch. Four seasons ago you might have seen a line of Domi-Perrott-Belak. Now what is there?


My Pick

I think Detroit gets off the shnide here. In fact there's a few choices here that are clearly worse in my opinion. Aaron Downey did a nice job for them and cheapshots seemed to drop significantly this year. Or at least the response increased significantly. I'm going with Buffalo in a toss-up, if only because when they played the Rangers they got hit and run out of the building.

Previous Winners

2003-04: Detroit Red Wings
2005-06: Detroit Red Wings
2006-07: Detroit Red Wings

[mikethompson]

why dont we just call this the detroit red wings award for worst enforcing team

[Smerri1029]

I am leaning towards the New York Islanders but Toronto and Montreal are certainly close behind. I don't think I am going to give it to the Wings this year, I think there were actually more pitiful teams (sad as that is) and I think I may be giving my vote to the New York Islanders. Still need to think this one over more though.

[skacore]

I picked L.A., I watched a lot of their games this year and they definitely weren't fun... Ivanans is a big strong dude and one hell of a fighter but he was invisible for months, an injury I'm guessing? I think he was wearing a shield for a bit. Brown was dishing monster hits all year and yet no one had his back. Leading goal scorer and constantly being challenged and threatened

[IhateLindros]

Los Angeles hands down. I really thought jack Johnson was going to light it up this year and boy was that a let down. When Ivanans wasnt in the lineup they had SQUAT!

[bupz91]

Toronto for me, esp after the Belak trade.

[Isles4life]

No runaway winner this year. I've gotta go with the Islanders. Chris Simon was the furthest thing from an enforcer on that team when he was not suspended, and the whole fiasco with calling up Kip Brennan only to scratch him against the Ducks was insane. The Islanders just looked to be desperately in need of an enforcer more often than not. Mike Comrie did a better job in that role then pretty much anyone else on the team this year.

[Powerforward]

Did Montreal even have a heavyweight???

[Orr=God]

islanders and leafs were both pretty pathetic.

[Snipes19]

I picked Los Angeles.

Detroit had the least amount of FM's, but they did pickup Aaron Downey in the offseason, they brought in Drake, and brought up McCarty towards the end of the year, so I thought they tried to get a tougher team.

Los Angeles had Ivanans, and that was it. Detroit at least had a couple guys that would scrap, but man - if Ivanans wasn't playing - LA was so boring to watch, because they had nobody after him. And they only had one more FM than Detroit.

Montreal doesn't have a heavy, so it was tempting to pick them, but they did have 32 fights still - more than all of those teams, so I didn't pick them.

The Isles had a few gritty players, and it's not really their fault that their heavyweight Chris Simon is an idiot and got suspended, and then decided to hardly fight. They brought up Brennan at the end of the year, so I didn't pick them either.

The Sabres have a few fighters, but Peters just decided to suck this year. But, they were still at least more entertaining than LA, in my opinion.

And the Maple Leafs were bad too, but still had more fights that LA.

So I voted for the Kings, for those reasons. Although ALL of those teams on that list sucked at enforcing this year and should be ashamed of themselves. Montreal, Toronto, and the Islanders need a heavy. The rest of them just need to start fighting more.

[IceDog44]

The Leafs take this one for me hands down. After trading Belak no hw enforcer, and no attempts by any means to acquire one.

[SnowballIsChamp]

For the first time in a long time I am proud not to pick the Red Wings. They really turned things around this season signing both Dallas Drake & Aaron Downey. Sure they still didn't have the most fights and weren't the scariest of players but it stopped a lot of the liberties being taken in the past and the liberties that were taken were usually followed by payback. They also signed Darren McCarty towards the end of the season so the 3 of them stay for next season and we could see a 30 fight team maybe if Babcock doesn't act a bitch.

I went with Toronto. They were horrible this season and a big turn around from the years past. Darcy Tucker is getting a little old and he can't hang with the young guys like he used to. They traded Belak after not using him the right way all season. There farm team is one of the worst in the AHL. Toronto just isn't the Toronto of the 90's or even 03-04. Really turned the franchise upside down this season and they still didn't make the playoffs.

[Master416]

NYI.
They sucked, and they had no fighters.
At least Montreal won the conference, NYI was not only boring to watch as far as stars go, they had no goons.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by Master416

NYI.
They sucked, and they had no fighters.
At least Montreal won the conference, NYI was not only boring to watch as far as stars go, they had no goons.

I agree with you about the Islanders, but that description fits the Maple Leafs pretty well too.

[ProbieRules]

This is a tough call, as all these teams truly suck in the enforcing dept...

Usually Detroit would get my vote, as they once again had the fewest majors, but at least they played Downey all year...

my vote goes to Toronto...they were simply pitiful this season.