Top Five New Jersey Devils Enforcers

I haven't been talking much hockey lately and I had an idea last night for a fun little column about the dying breed in a changing game-the enforcer.

That led to this idea about the top five Devil's enforcers, but a few caveats before we begin.
One-this is a list of my favorite enforcers, not a bracket of who would win if I ran an eight-man tournament. (hmm,).

Two-Why not Scott Stevens?
Well, for all of the intimidating factors of Stevens and for as often as Stevens dropped the gloves, I don't like to rank a Hall of Famer as an enforcer.

So.......

1) Troy Crowder.
Troy Crowder only spent two years in the Red and Green, but his standup skills rank with the best ever and his destructive win over my all-time favorite fist-thrower Bob Probert stamped him as one of the best ever on any particular night.
Crowder may not have been a Devil long enough to rank him tops on quantity, but the quality certainly puts him in the running...


2) Krzysztof Oliwa.
The Polish Hammer spent three years as a Devil and it might have been the best three-year run for a Devil enforcer ever.
Oliwa's size (6'5 245) made him tough to take down and his uppercut ranked with the best bangers in his time....


3) Mike Peluso
Peluso wasn't just an enforcer, he was a vital member of the CRASH line for the first Devils Cup winner.
Peluso's biggest problem was that his balance wasn't always the best, but with the long hair flying with every punch thrown and taken, Peluso's fights always had a great visual effect.
Peluso is also the last NHL player to record 400 penalty minutes in a season, although that was before his Devils tenure.


4) Ken Daneyko
Mr.Devil was a solid, stay-at-home defenseman and not a one-dimensional performer, but he wasn't afraid to drop the gloves either, especially in his early years before the Devils became a playoff contender.
Daneyko makes the list for consistency, not for being among the elite battlers.


5) Randy McKay
McKay was among the best middleweights of his day and yet had a decent scoring touch around the net.
In the 90's-2000s, there were almost divisions and the middles delivered just as much action as the big bruisers.
McKay was also a CRASH line member and for a player that accumulated penalty minutes, McKay was strong on the plus-minus stat board..


Honorable Mention
David Clarkson-Would have been much more effective in McKay's day, similar style.
Jim McKenzie-Underrated heavyweight with lots of teams on his passport.
Cam Janssen-Didn't seem to win as many fights as others, but always tried hard...

Enforcers in the NHL-A dying breed

I recently was talking with Rachel during a Devils game and she commented that the Devils didn't fight nearly as much as they used to.

That's true and all of the anti-fighting crowd should be happy that fighting has drastically decreased over the last two years.
The lovely Cherie has thought for years that fighting was not a need in the game and always complained about it.
Me? I rank Bob Probert among my favorite players ever and used to trade for fight tapes of my favorite bombers,so I was not a fighting snob.
I loved Devils fighters of the past like Krzystof Oliwa,Troy Crowder,Ken Daneyko and more.
The NHL was always an easy mark for columnists looking for a topic to bang some words out and were able to rant about the ills of the bouts with outrage.

The enforcers are slowly being weeded out of the game as the game evolves to more of a flowing,offensive and the liabilities of the enforcer are becomes more and more of an albatross that teams simply cannot afford to carry/
If you have a player that can defend himself and can perform at a level that the game demands,then the fighting is a bonus,but the less than skilled Darren Peters,Eric Boulton and Kris Barch types are being run out of the game because they simply cannot compete in the current game.
The skating and scoring simply overwhelm the the physicality and as a result-the enforcers are almost useless on even a fourth line with limited duty.
You can argue that is not as fun of a game to watch,but until someone is able to to be successful in a attempt to build a roster based on players that are able to whack around the skill players,the game is what it is for the time being.

I miss the fighting and I miss the action that physical play provides,however there is finally a good reason that fighting is a dying art and it has nothing to do with flow of play or the art of the game,
The main issue is one that is affecting other sports as well-brain issues.
Unlike boxing,the fights on the ice result in gloves being dropped,not being put on.
Hockey fights often are muddled,sloppy,grasping bouts,but the the danger is not always the bare fisted fighters-it's the ice from when they hit the ground.
Thick,frozen ice with no give can cause severe injury when heads hit the surface without any padding and from the force that is created from falling out of control.
Now that we are learning more about brain injuries,I can see the value of less fighting,although I still believe that the game suffers from losing it as the players now are able to cheap shot more and not pay a price for their dirty play,but if it means a better post-hockey life for the players-I can live without it.

Until then-there is always my old fight tapes as I transfer them to DVD.
Back tonight with the Cavaliers in Washington and (internet permitting) the Devils in Edmonton...