Top 10 Islanders Enforcers

[Isles4life]

In honor of an otherwise largely disappointing 40th anniversary New York Islanders season, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at a part of the game we all love and discuss the greatest tough guys to ever wear the team’s sweater (and reminisce about days the team wasn’t so soft). The list I compiled is not a list of the 10 best fighters to ever play for the team, but rather 10 guys whose physical presence in the lineup had a lasting legacy:

1. Clark Gillies – Being of the younger generation of Islanders fans, I was in attendance to watch Gillies’ jersey being retired, but sadly didn’t get to see him play on the ice. But from everything I’ve heard, read, and since watched, the guy was a force to be feared en route to a Hall of Fame career.

2. Bob Nystrom – As was the case with Gillies, I didn’t get to watch Nystrom on the ice, but as one of the dynasty era’s heroes, his accomplishments both with the gloves on and off, are also legendary.

3. Eric Cairns – The big man, who struggled a bit when he broke into the league with the Rangers, really found himself once the gloves came off during his tenure with the Islanders. Cairns was one of the league’s elite fighters and was in may great bouts, but was of course immortalized in Islanders lore by the image of him saluting the crowd after demolishing Shayne Corson in the 2002 playoff series against Toronto.

4. Mick Vukota – His fights weren’t always the most entertaining bouts since Mick was the master of the body slam, but he still had plenty of great ones. You have to appreciate the effort brought by the team’s all-time leader in both PIMs and fighting majors.

5. Ken Baumgartner – Bomber made a big impact during a relatively brief stint with the Islanders. He racked up 51 fights with the Islanders as one of the league’s top heavyweights, over a tenure that included just over 2 full seasons.

6. Garry Howatt – An original Islander who I also didn’t get to see play, Howatt was a little guy but a fierce combatant. He sits second all-time in team fighting majors.

7. Eric Godard – My personal favorite Islanders enforcer, Godard had the opportunity to provide an outstanding one-two punch with Cairns when he first broke into the league, before taking the reins as the team heavyweight by himself.

8. Rich Pilon – He prowled the blue line for parts of 12 seasons for the Islanders and sits second all-time in team PIMs. While he only had a few seasons with particularly high fight totals, he was a fixture in the lineup for a long time.

9. Ken Belanger – One of my personal favorites, who I think often gets overlooked, he was a bright spot on some real dismal teams in the 1990s.

10. Brian Curran - I never saw Curran play for the Islanders, but he had quite the season back in 1986-87 with 19 fights and a team record 356 PIMs. For that performance, I’ll include him to round out the top 10.

HM: Steve Webb – I’ll only include one guy as an honorable mention. While he wasn’t the best fighter (to say the least), Webb’s pinball mentality on the ice made his presence felt by the opposition and made him a huge fan favorite.


So...thoughts?

[Stevens Lindros]

HM: Trevor Gillies
Mitch Fritz [just for being 6'8]

[GODARDNYI]

Originally Posted by Stevens Lindros

HM: Trevor Gillies
Mitch Fritz [just for being 6'8]

thanks for the input... what are you 12?

[kam]

I know your going to want to vomit in my face but I think Cairns, Vukota, Godard and Baumgartner should be 1 through 4 as far as enforcing goes. I'm not taking away anything from Gillies and Nystrom but I wouldn't call them enforcers in the traditional sense, they were more along the lines of power forwards that didn't take any ****.


I always forget about Webb for some reason.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by kam

I know your going to want to vomit in my face but I think Cairns, Vukota, Godard and Baumgartner should be 1 through 4 as far as enforcing goes. I'm not taking away anything from Gillies and Nystrom but I wouldn't call them enforcers in the traditional sense, they were more along the lines of power forwards that didn't take any ****.


I always forget about Webb for some reason.

I definitely understand your point, but I think the role of the designated enforcer was a little different when Gillies and Nystrom played, especially during the earlier part of their careers, and so they obviously brought a lot more to the team than just their ability to fight.

[BobNystromOwnsU]

They were most certainly enforcers, they could just play better than most enforcers.

[NJDevils17]

Ray Schultz, yo!

But seriously, for me it's Eric Cairns. Dude was big and would throw bombs.

[Isles4life]

Originally Posted by NJDevils17

Ray Schultz, yo!

Of course! The man, the myth Ray Schultz!

A whopping 155 PIMs in his 45 games as an Islander...but no.