2009-10 Broad Street Bully Award: Best Enforcing Team

[Merlin401]

Here we looked for tough teams that carried one or more heavyweights to supplement team toughness.

Nominees

Anaheim Ducks -- 78 fights
Once again the Ducks led the league in fights, even without Brian Burke as GM. The 'Stache, George Parros led the team with another 20 fights and has become one of the biggest fighting fixtures in all the NHL as a symbol of Anaheim Ducks hockey. There was also a cast of characters around him who made the lineup difficult and scary to play against, including Mike Brown, Sheldon Brookbank, and others. We also must keep in mind that if it weren't for Anaheim, the average team fighting major totals might be in the teens these days so they win any tie breakers with the other nominees below.

Calgary Flames -- 74 fights
Next to the Ducks, the Flames have seemed to be the new millennium's best model for toughness, usually employing a good heavyweight, a tough-as-nails North American lineup, and gritty veteran leadership. The equation was the same this year as Brian McGrattan rebounded with a great year as the team's top cop. Jerome Iginla got into six scraps and put up his usual outstanding offensive production. And an incredible 18 players dropped the gloves in 09-10 for the Flames, conjuring up images of old-school teams where virtually everyone in the lineup had at least one or two scraps. Trading away Dion Phaneuf and Brandon Prust certainly hurt later in the year, however.

Philadelphia Flyers -- 77 fights
Although the Broad Street Bullies led the Eastern Conference in fights, this is not your fathers Flyers menace. Playing almost the entire year without heavyweight Riley Cote, this fighting major attack was led by scrappy middleweights who did their best to keep the peace (and didn't have too much difficulty in the new-NHL). Ian Laperrier, Daniel Carcillo and Arron Asham all had big years in the fighting department while a scrappy complimenting cast and tough leadership from the likes of Michael Richards made this a tough team.

St. Louis Blues -- 72 fights
One of the impressive five teams to record 70+ fights on the year, they had a two-heavyweight attack. Cam Janssen led the team with 19 fights (and probably the league in total cumulative fight duration, wearing out all comers). D.J. King had some impressive fights bouncing back from injury and B.J. Crombeen and Brad Winchester picked up the middleweight slack for this very tough lineup.

Tampa Bay Lightning -- 73 fights
Tampa Bay dressed a very tough lineup, letting wild men Steve Downie and Zenon Konopka loose on the world for a full season. The results were staggering as both men topped 200 penalty minute seasons and Konopka got into 33 fights (the most since the lockout). Add in Matt Walker and Todd Fedoruk to split heavyweight duties and this was a team to be reckoned with if you were going to try to play dirty.

Toronto Maple Leafs -- 57 fights
Brian Burke set forth to built Anaheim-East as he went to work revamping the Toronto lineup into a tougher and more competitive one. Step one was signing Rangers' tough guy, Colton Orr, as the centerpiece. Orr did not disappoint, leaving a trail of wreckage in his 23 fight debut for the team. A host of other gritty individuals kicked in fights when needed and Jay Rosehill provided an exciting cameo but Orr went out of his way to clean up most of the team's messes. Burke still needed his Chris Pronger, a nasty skilled D-man, and found one by trading late in the year for Dion Phaneuf. Hopefully he'll be able to turn the team around and bring them back to glory in the near future.


My Pick

I think there were a bunch of tough teams this year, but they all had their flaws and weaknesses. So I'll copy and paste what I wrote last year: "When in doubt, I think its only right to go with Anaheim here. When everyone else in the NHL started to succumb to the anti-fighting tide, Anaheim bucked it and changed everyone else (sans Detroit) with them. They led the league in fights. They started it all. They win."

Past Winners

2003-04: Calgary Flames
2005-06: Ottawa Senators
2006-07: Anaheim Ducks
2007-08: Anaheim Ducks
2008-09: Anaheim Ducks

[NJDevils17]

I wanted to vote for the Blues, but I feel obligated to vote for the Ducks.

[zoli]

I went with Toronto. They had quite a few guys who dropped their gloves, but Orr takes the cake. He forced quite a few scraps with his style and was looking for a fight every night.

Anaheim is not the same imo.

[Lead]

Originally Posted by zoli

I went with Toronto. They had quite a few guys who dropped their gloves, but Orr takes the cake. He forced quite a few scraps with his style and was looking for a fight every night.

Anaheim is not the same imo.

You have to vote here for best enforcing TEAM, not your favorite fighter.

[Killah_punk]

I went with the Leafs cause i never saw anyone get punk'd on the Leafs last year. The Flames lose points for trading Prust. For the Blues, King and Janssen only dressed in 55 games between the two. For Tbay Walker and Fedoruk weren't active enough, Philly didn't have a HW and players like Orr punk'd them. The Ducks HW Parros is no longer a top 10 fighter and isn't scaring anyone thou he did have a good supporting cast and were problay my second choice. Look for the Oilers to be in the running next season for this award.

[Podollan]

I would go with the leafs too.

Tampa Bay or Flyers are missing a heavyweight so they cant have the Broad Street Bully Award when you ask me.

I remember the Leafs destroying the Capitals for example or Carcillo running away from Orr. They get my vote.

Blues,Ducks and Flames are tough teams too .

[5 4 Fighting]

Leafs early in the year when Rosehill was up......

[Lead]

I know Parros isnt feared fighter around the league, but most of season he played with injured hand, so still picking up 21 fighting major is good result. And you knew, there was always lights like Brookbank, Brown, Bodie, Chipchura on team who could step up if needed.

Make it fourth consecutive year for Anaheim.

[zoli]

Originally Posted by Lead

You have to vote here for best enforcing TEAM, not your favorite fighter.

Actually Orr is not my favorite. The whole team was fun to watch, with Rosehill and co. Its not like Orr was the only one fighting...

[BigBadWolf1171]

Came down to Toronto or Philly. Thought both teams did a great job of having each other's backs.Picked Toronto in the end,due to them ,IMO having a little tougher team to play against.

[Wild_KO King]

Quantity does not equal quality, and the Ducks consitently march out some of the most piss-poor fighters around. I really don't think they are instilling fear in anyone. I love the Stache, but guys like Arty, Brown, Montador (from last year), and Bodie are absolute abominations and shouldn't even be referred to as fighters.

Leafs are a good choice, but most of the year they were relying on a single guy, I think next year will be different however.

I went with the Bullies themselves, despite the fact that Cote barely even saw the ice, they consistently marched guys like Laperiere, Asham and Carcillo, and for that I give them credit. Oh, and they also have the dirtiest SOB in Pronger lurking along the blue line (even though his gloves are now glued on).

[Cat Smasher]

Homer vote, and here is why.

Orr forced the issue and MADE teams dress a tough guy sometimes (Big Mac), also when needed, they called up Rosehill for some secondary stuff (Rupp, Moen, PLB). They also had Mayers to kind of tangle with the guys that didn't want to fight Orr (see Carcillo, Lappy). XLB had a fight or two when needed, and he sent Carcillo to the ice.

Hell Beauchemin fights Jokinen, Schenn fights Neil, Primeau fights Thornton, Phaneuf goes with Hartnell, hell even Hagman went at it a bit lol.

Some if it is enforcing, some of it is standing up for yourself, but good job either way.

Bottom line is, you didn't see Toronto getting run.

[Active Stick]

Can't really say anything that Killah Punk and Cat Smasher didn't say already. Picked Toronto for the same reasons.

[ThrowdownSJ408]

hardest decision yet on here. I went with Calgary just because the prust MacGrattan combo early was great. They would fight at same time or right after eachother. Maples did work so did Philly.

[bobberino]

As a team, this is a 2 horse race.. The Leafs Ducks game in Anaheim last year was a great game and entertaining.. Its not whether you win or lose the fight, its about standing up or do something to get your team going.

I guess it comes down to what teams you see the most etc... Not just fight clips!