With the media having a field day with the word truculence in particular, let's take a look at the most truculent players in Toronto Maple Leafs history:
1. Red Horner - Horner was the NHL penalty king 7 out of 8 years from 1932 through 1940. Oh, and he was a Hall of Fame defenseman. 1254 PIM in 490 games.2. Wendel Clark - The guy was a wrecking ball on ice, hitting and fighting everything in sight. But he could really play too. 1535 PIM in 608 games as a Leaf.
3. Addendum - Bert Olmstead - In my haste to put this piece together, I neglected to add Dirty Bertie Olmstead. He was the Mark Messier of his day. His penalty minutes may not indicate his meanness, but everyone feared him. And he was a hell of a player, too.
4. Tiger Williams - The NHL's all time penalty minute leader with nearly 4000 career PIMs had 1670 minutes served in 406 games with the Leafs.
5. Tim Horton - He may not have been a huge PIM guy, but he hit so hard that he qualifies as the forerunner to Scott Stevens. 1389 PIM in 1185 games.
6. Bobby Baun - The hard hitting Baun was in turn a forerunner to Horton. 1155 penalty minutes in 739 games.
7. Tie Domi - The ever popular Domi is the Leafs all time penalty king with 2265 minutes in 777 career games.
8. Gus Mortson - A devastating hitter. 709 PIM in 371 games.
9. Eddie Shack - Part tough guy, part clown, 100% truculent. 676 PIM in 504 games.
10. John Kordic - 446 PIMs in 104 games with the Leafs. Need I say more?
John Brophy would have to be the coach and Conn Smythe the GM.
I originally included short fuzed 50 goal scorer Rick Vaive, but have now dropped him in favor of Olmstead.
2 comments:
Some of these guys are before my time, but I'm surprised to see Vaive on the list. Despite his PIMs I never really considered him a tough player, at least for that era.
A few guys who could have made the list in his spot: Bomber, Todd Gill, Bob Rouse, Brian Curran, Forbes Kennedy.
And I think you need to find a spot for Gary Roberts, don't you?
Eddie Shack was the real deal.
When Shack and Montreal's John Ferguson (sr.) got together it was instant truculence.
For those old enough they even wrote a popular song on Eddie ...
"Clear the Track Here Comes Shack" - hit number 1 on the charts.
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