This is quite possibly one of the coolest rankings Forbes Magazine has ever done. While this post is about hockey, before I go any further, I should mention that this is about fighting. And there are pictures. And if you read far enough, there might be a video. Or two.Now that I have your complete attention, what Forbes has done here is rank the top 15 fighters for their buck in the NHL.
Everyone loves fighting and it is an important part of the game. Without fighting, players wouldn’t be accountable for their actions. Sure there would still be penalties and maybe suspensions for dirty play, but that guy wouldn’t be getting his ass kicked, which most of the time is the best punishment. You hit the captain of the other team, you fight their “bodyguard” and everything is forgotten, until you strike again.
The great thing about many of these enforcers is that they come cheap, many of the times playing at the league minimum for salary. And these fighters aren’t just tough guys, they are still hockey players who can score goals and pick up assists, just not too many of them. Ian Laperriere who ranks #11 on the list is the top point getter, with 48 points over the last two seasons.
Instead of paraphrasing and trying to explain the categories used to rank these 15 players, I’ll just let the article do the talking:
“To determine the best fighters for the buck, we compared player fighting stats since the start of the 2006-07 season to their pay last year…we awarded a bonus for each win and subtracted points for each loss, as determined by fan voting at hockeyfights.com…
When comparing salaries, we took experience into account by contrasting a player’s pay with a pool of enforcers that have similar longevity in the league, since younger players have pay-limits set by the NHL. Only the 15 players currently active on NHL rosters who dropped their gloves 20 or more times while playing in at least half their team’s games over the past two seasons were included in our ranking.”
Here is the link to the profile of each fighter. But since it is a painstakingly slow slideshow that is annoying to operate, I’m going to show each one right here, just for you.
1. Colton Orr (NYR)
6’ 3”, 222 lbs
Fight Record: 21-11-2
2007-08 Salary: $525,000
2. Georges Laraque (MON)
Why the heck isn’t this guy number one? I know his salary is a bit high, but he hasn’t lost a fight in the past two years and probably ever in his life. Plus, he’s one of my favorite tough guys. That should count for something.
6’ 3”, 253 lbs
Fight Record: 19-0-2
2007-08 Salary: $1.3 million
3. Shawn Thornton (BOS)
Thornton deserves the ultimate respect. He’s won a Stanley Cup and is the second lowest paid play on the Bruins.
6’ 2”, 217 lbs
Fight Record: 12-4-8
2007-08 Salary: $500,000
4. Donald Brashear (WSH)
The man loves to fight and fight all the time. He has a big time job too in protecting Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom and Federov. He’s earning every bit of that $1.1 million.
6’ 3”, 234 lbs
Fight Record: 17-6-3
2007-08 Salary: $1.1 million
5. Andrew Peters (BUF)
Just imagine Rick Jeanneret calling these fights!
6’ 4”, 247 lbs
Fight Record: 15-11-3
2007-08 Salary: $500,000
6. Raitis Ivanans (LAK)
6’ 4”, 256 lbs
Fight Record: 12-10-4
2007-08 Salary: $475,000
7. Darcy Hordichuk (VAN)
I would never ever, ever mess with this guy after he trained with Chuck Liddell in the offseason.
6’ 1”, 215 lbs
Fight Record: 11-4-7
2007-08 Salary: $517,000Click Here For My Take On Fighters 8 Through 15
In Pictures: Best Hockey Fighters For The Buck [Forbes.com]
Best Hockey Fighters For The Buck [Yahoo! Sports]
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