Eric Godard is by far the fighter of the year.  He’s taken on everyone and broken a few orbital bones along the way.  Shawn Thornton and Riley Cote are the most game who show no fear.  Aaron Downey taking on Cam Janssen goes to a draw with Jody Shelley and Donald Brashear for the most entertaining bout of the year.  It’s just ashame Downey had to spend all but 4 games in the AHL.  Georges Laraques reign as heavyweight champ is over.  Yeah he’s big and strong but he’s more of a wrestler who doesn’t like his job.  Darcy Hordichuk is the most underrated fighter in the NHL.  His bouts are always full of energy and he’s one tough S-O-B.  All in all every team has a gamer and they all have the toughest job in sports.  It’s how we lost Eric Cairns.  Now where is Scott Parker?  Bring back Parker!  Bring back Parker!  Bring back Parker!

im excited to c where hockey is goin to go in the near future as far as fan support goes. It’s awesome to c a city like chicago alive and well with their fan support. they pack more than 22,000 ppl into the united airlines areana every game night.  thats great for hockey in the united states. Boston has come alive again with Lucic leading the way(and with the very good chance that the winter classic is comin to fenway park;hold onto ur bootstraps).today, gm’s are takin a look at hits to the head.  The league needs to stop with this bullshit.hockey is a rough and tumble game and ppl who watch and play hockey understand that.  look at detroit for ex.-they call themselves “hockey town” but lets face it they have a hard time filling the joe. If they had kocur or another probert than i could guarantee u that they could fill that place every night instead of just on the weekends. takin fighting out of the sport would def hurt it more than help it. i kno when i saw cote and thornton square off at center ice a couple years ago in boston everybody rose out of their seats and watched them go toe to toe(what an amazing fight by the way).

This Wade Belak business is kinda funny. I chalk it up to the blind squirrel getting the occasional nut - he lands one lucky, albeit tremendously powerful, shot on the undisputed king and suddenly he’s a hero. I’ve got nothing against the guy. He’s a good fighter and dropping Brash to his knees is indeed impressive. But I think if we look at the big picture, Brash will be counted among the all-time greats. Belak will be seen as the Buster Douglas of the NHL.

I can’t see that.  Brash was far from the only guy Belak handled well this season.  Belak has plenty of fights under his belt and was a top 10 guy for a long time.

DMS - I know he’s a good fighter, even top ten - once. What I’m saying is Brash is top two (most likely top ten all-time), even taking into account one heavy shot. With respect to his D.B. knee buckler, it’s little more than trivia in the big picture. But, I take your point. Overall, the analogy isn’t perfect.

Furthermore, and I’ll drop it after this (my apologies for obsessing), Tyson was far from the only guy Douglas handled. He had to be top ten to get a shot at the Heavyweight title - it’s not like I’m saying Belak is Butterbean. Now, let me have it.

i agree with maxwerm-once in awhile u’ll c someone like belak that gets lucky on a guy like brashear.  Even Tyson (argumentatively the best heavy weight boxer ever)got ko’d. Give Belak credit for even engaging in a fight with brashear, forget owning him, but lets be realistic, brashear would own belak 6-8 times out of 10.

Hi there,
What award are you goint to give to Wade???  He deserves a trip to Vegas for the meetings at least. Worse mistake Panthers made trading him!!!

Where’s Derek Dorsett on the Rookie of the Year candidate list? He came to play every night, was fired up constantly & had some great scraps. The Dorsett/Carcillo bout at the start of the year was awesome.

When does the voting end?

The way I see it, Belak dropping Brash or edging Boogie, or Orr knocking down BGL last year and bettering Goddard this year, doesn’t mean those guys become the Champ like in boxing, it just means they earned their places in the Top 5. 

Boogie had an off year all around, so he’s out for now, but BGL and Brash sure didn’t fall out of my Top 5.

all of the guys mentioned can’t play a lick. D.B. was a very good player for the role of enforcer. have to tip your cap to him to stay in the leaque this long and be among the best now and of all time. better days are behind him, he had a good run, probably the best run of any enforcer in history. godard was the best fighter this past season.
    The league may never see another brashear as far as longevity.