Ranking the top 5 Leafs enforcers of all time
Hockey has taken a major turn toward skill in recent years, with grit and ferocity seeing an enormous reduction. Gone are the days where every game contained at least one good tilt. Gone are also the days where goons were out patrolling the ice, looking for trouble.
Today, we wanted to pay homage to the top Leafs gladiators over the years by ranking the top 5 Leafs enforcers of our generation, so here goes.
5. Wendel Clark:
Wendel is at the bottom of this list, but not because he wasn't as nasty as they come. The former Leafs captain was much more than just an enforcer. He played a much more complete game, and logged more minutes for his team than your run-of-the-mill enforcer. There is a reason his legend continues to ring out 20 plus years after he retired.
In his first two seasons as a leaf he fought 23 times and 29 times. That's 52 times in a 146 games. God, I miss this man.
I'll throw it back to one of his many legendary tilts, when he and Los Angeles Kings defenceman Marty McSorley threw down after McSorley levelled Leafs icon Doug Gilmour just inside the Kings blueline. The NHL was such a different game then.
4. Wade Belak:
Before we begin here, rest in peace to this absolute gem of a man. I met Wade at a party one night while he was still a Leaf. He was without a doubt one the coolest hockey players I have ever met.
Wade peaked with 17 fights in a season, but he could always be counted on to drop the gloves to fire up the team and the hometown crowd. I'd love to rank him higher, given my appreciation for the man, but sadly this isn't his list. Belak also serves as a harsh reminder of the cost attached to playing this type of a role. It's also a very damning indictment of this type of hockey, which is why it is slowly being phased out.
From all of us at LetsGoLeafs.com and Leafs Nation in general, we love you Wade.
3. Colton Orr:
Colton Orr could certainly challenge for the scariest Leaf on this list, and he was probably the last true enforcer to play full time for the Leafs.
He notched 23 tilts in his last full season and I am fairly sure he won them all convincingly. He was what Brian Burke meant by truculence, and was a big part of why that 2013 Leafs team was so tough to play against.
Orr's legacy remains a bit tainted due to an accident involving another enforcer and the current Head of the Department of Player Safety, George Parros, who was forced into an early retirement after the two fell to the ice during a scrap, knocking Parros unconscious. Parros would need a stretcher to get off of the ice.
2. Dave "Tiger" Williams:
Williams spent 5 years as a Leaf, entirely during the first Leafs dark age known as "The Ballard Years". The game was different then and Tiger was different too. He once fought 34 times in a season. If you average it out, you could count on a Tiger fight once out of every two games.
Williams had staggering resilience and toughness, but while many might rank him number one, he pre-dates me, so I have him at number two on this list.
He also had the best goal celebration I have ever seen. Every time Tiger scored, he would ride his stick like a horse waving his arm like he had a lasso. That image needs to live on forever, just like the legend of the NHL's all-time leader in penalty minutes, Tiger Williams.
1. Tie Domi:
Tie is the consensus #1 on every list, and if he's not, he should be. Domi was the prototypical career enforcer, and an undersized one, at that. Domi knew his role and he thrived in it, with over 200 fights as a Leaf.
Domi is a prime example of that old saying, "it's not about the size of the dog in the fight, it's about the size of the fight in the dog". At just 5'10, 207 lbs, Domi threw down with monsters like Bob Probert, Donald Brashear and Georges Laraque, all of whom were 6'3 or larger.
There was never a fight that Domi was going to turn down, and that's why he is 3rd in the NHL in penalty minutes, all-time. You're number one in our hearts though, Tie!
Let us know in the comments how your top 5 Leafs enforcers list stacks up!
