Who's the toughest pound for pound scrapper in NHL history?

Over the past thirty or forty years, we've seen a load of characters come and go some for the good some for the bad. Whether it is Eddie Shack, Bobby Clarke, David “Tiger” Williams, the list goes on and on. We’ve always had our enforcers, those pains in this ass those who played the game tough. We’re about to go over a list of some, that did their jobs that much better than others, meaning they were more than a one dimensional player.

Enforcer to a solid second-third liner

                If you handed every general manager in the NHL a wish list, at the very top of that list would be a tough guy that can play a regular shift. Not a one dimensional player, someone that can play 12 minutes or more and not look out of place.  No question about it, at the top of that list would have been Bob Probert. In his prime he was the nastiest, toughest SOB, maybe in NHL history. His fights with Marty McSorley, Craig Coxe and Troy Crowder were legendary, but “Probe” also had the hands to score (29 goals in 87-88). When it was all said and done, he played 935 games, scoring 162 goals and had 3300 PIM’s.  Speaking of McSorely he was without question a very useful player while playing bodyguard for Wayne Gretzky for many years in Edmonton and in LA. He was multi dimensional being able to play both forward and defense.
             Two names from the mid 1990’s come to mind. Randy Mckay started out with Detroit played 3 seasons there, before moving to the New Jersey Devils. Mckay was a key contributor of 2 Stanley Cup Championships with the Devils, scoring 16 goals or more 5 times while playing at the swamp. Second example would be Detroit’s Darren McCarty. Earlier in his career he did his enforcer job so good, the Wings no longer needed Probert. After being added to the “grind line” his career took off, scoring 14 or more goals 5 times, and being known as one of the best pound for pound scrappers.
         This decade you’ve got guys like Shawn Thornton when in Boston, Brandon Prust with Montreal and Ottawa’s Chris Neil. While the three this past decade have not put tons of pucks in the net, they have played big minutes in some big games.

Who the toughest player pound for pound?

            When talking pound for pound who the toughest player of all time? A number of guys come to mind, with some getting honorable mention.
            In the late 70’s Stan Jonathan was considered one of the toughest players in his era despite being 5’8 175 pounds. In the 1979-80 seasons Jonathan fought 25 times, 2 of which were against Behn Wilson whom was 7 inches taller and 35 pounds heavier. The average fight was against guys 4 inches taller and 18 pounds heavier, experts have him winning over 65% of fights that year. In the 80’s there was a variety of guys who could the title as pound for pound the toughest. The late John Kordic could take a punch but could dish one out as well. You also had guys like Jay Miller, Wendel Clark, Chris Nilan some would even say Dale Hunter. It was hands down the toughest decade regarding rough stuff during the 1980’s.
          Over the past two decades, again its very tough to choose from. One scrappy spark plug that no one would mention is Rob Dimiao, while only being 5’8 he physically did not back down from any challenge that came to him. Darren Langdon was the best second half fighter in NHL history; no one will argue that fact. Langdon often was outweighed by 10 pounds, but he liked to prolong his fights, with him taking control over the last 30 or 40 seconds of it.

         Two other names are PJ Stock and Stephen Peat, those two had the three most memorable scraps in the past decade, completely unreal, and their fights could be in the top 10 of all time. Over the past couple of years who is the toughest pound for pound scrapper? Before he retired this past year, one can make the argument for Riley Cote. Former league heavyweight champ Georges Laraque was quoted last year in saying Cote was the toughest pound for pound player in the NHL. Current day one could say Jared Boll or Jordin Tootoo with an honorable mention to the late Rick Rypien.