Most Hated NHL Players
Professional hockey is a blood sport. Of the four major North American Sports, it is unique that players carry a weapon in their hands while skating at speeds over 20 mph. They wear body armor and fire pucks through crowds of players at 90 mph or more speeds. They face other players trying everything legal and illegal to stop them from scoring a goal. The list of infractions is endless: tripping, elbowing, slashing, and dangerous cross-checking from behind.
Thus, the need for enforcers whose job is to protect star players from abuse on the ice, giving them the room to make plays and score goals. In Wayne Gretzky’s time in Edmonton, he had Dave Semenko protect him from other players taking liberties.
This list is just ten of the dirtiest players ever in the NHL.
#10
Eddie Shore was as tough as they come; he never expected anything less from his players than what he could do himself. It’s said that Eddie could skate backward faster than most players could skate forwards, and he didn’t have any qualms about proving it.
Shore had a mean streak. His most famous moment came when he mistakenly retaliated against Toronto’s Ace Bailey with a near-fatal hit. Bailey was in a coma for days and never played hockey again. The two eventually made amends. The incident planted the seeds for the All-Star game, which was first played as a fundraiser for the Bailey family.
He also got into a violent incident with two newly acquired teammates, Billy Coutu and Sprague Cleghorn.
His determination was second to none. He once drove all night in a whiteout blizzard to make sure he made it to a game in Montreal after having missed the train from Boston. The trip nearly killed him. Shore would score the only goal in that game.
#9
Chris Pronger is hated in Edmonton for what many fans perceived as arrogance shortly after losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Pronger demanded a trade.
It was revealed that while at a house party with Oiler’s teammates, he was asked what he thought of the party. Pronger, who was reading a newspaper, looked over the top of the paper and said in a less than impressed tone, “I’ve seen better.”
On the ice, Pronger was ruthless. He had a reputation around the league for purposely using his 6’6″, 210-pound frame to hurt opponents. He played on the line and often crossed it.
Pronger was suspended by the NHL twice in the 2007 playoffs. The first is for a check on Tomas Holmstrom of the Detroit Red Wings during the Western Conference Final, and the other is for a headshot on Dean McAmmond of the Ottawa Senators during the Stanley Cup Final.
In March 2008, he was suspended eight games for stomping on the leg of Vancouver Canucks star Ryan Kesler.
#8
Corey Perry is among the most hated players in the NHL because he can score, but in doing so, he will take every opportunity to hack, wack, and slash, all the while feigning innocence.
He has a reputation for attacking players that play a gentlemanly style while backing down and complaining when NHL tough guys confront him.
In a 2014 interview, Perry was asked what he would hate about playing against himself. He responded, “Probably the little jabs away from the play, the things in the corner, just the little subtle things that might go unnoticed during the game, but I would hate to play against myself.”
Some of his favorite antics include yanking opposing players’ sticks out of their hands, squirting water into unsuspecting opponent’s gloves using his stick to shish-kebob players, and late hits, dirty hits, any hit but clean. He has more hits than the Beatles.
#7
Ron Hextall is among the most hated NHL players due to his fearless attack style. During his career, he earned the nickname “Hackstall” for his propensity to savagely slash any opposition player that came too close to his crease. If he didn’t have a career in the NHL, he could have been a great logger, taking down large trees with a single Hack.
Hextall wasn’t afraid to attack opposing players. During the 1989 playoffs against Montreal, he attacked Chris Chelios with only one minute and thirty-seven seconds left in game six. The outcome was obvious: Hextall raged out of his net and plowed into Chelios. When he emerged from the pile of players, Hextall’s jersey was ripped off, and equipment torn off. He was yelling, spitting, and throwing his blocker at Chelios. Hextall was suspended to start the following season.
This wasn’t the first time Hextall lost his marbles. During the 1987 playoffs against the Oilers, he slashed Kent Nilsson with a two-hander across the back of his legs.
Hextall holds the record for most career penalty minutes by a goaltender with 476 and the record for most penalty minutes by a goaltender in a single season – 113 (1988–89)
On December 8, 1987, in a game against the Boston Bruins, Hextall shot the puck into the open net, becoming the first goalie to score a goal with a direct shot. Billy Smith of the New York Islanders was the first to score a goal. On November 8, 1979, in a game against the Colorado Rockies, after Rob Ramage passed the puck down the ice into his net, Smith was given credit as he was the last Islander to touch the puck. On April 11, 1989, in a playoff game against the Washington Capitals, Hextall scored a goal becoming the first netminder to do so in a playoff game.
#6
Marty McSorley is best known as Wayne Gretzky’s bodyguard. McSorley was the muscle that would be there if anyone were to take liberties with the “Great One.”
He played 17 years in the NHL, mostly with the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, winning two Stanley Cups in Edmonton and racking up 3,381 penalty minutes along the way, good for 4th place on the NHL All-Time penalty leaders list.
On February 21, 2000, his most infamous incident was playing for the Boston Bruins in a game against the Vancouver Canucks. McSorley had lost a fight against Donald Brashear. Later in the game, Brashear had collided with Bruins goaltender Byron Dafoe which sent the netminder off on a stretcher. McSorley challenged Brashear to another fight, but Brashear wouldn’t engage him. Instead, he skated by the Bruins bench and gestured that he was washing his hands of McSorley. McSorley jumped onto the ice and delivered a two-handed stick to the side of Brashear’s head, causing him to hit the ice slamming his head and popping off his helmet. He had a seizure and a grade-three concussion as a result. The incident came with 4.6 seconds left in the game.
McSorley received an indefinite suspension and was charged with assault with a weapon. He was found guilty in a court of law and was given 18 months probation. He never played in the NHL again.
#5
Brad Marchand is the “little ball of hate.” In today’s NHL, he is arguably the most hated player. He is the consummate agitator. Marchand plays an aggressive mean style of hockey; he relishes getting under an opponent’s skin to throw them off their game, making them less effective. Some of his antagonistic antics include licking, sticking, dirty hits, verbal taunts, gestures, and generally anything he can think of to irritate. He likes to go after star opposition players, like in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, punching the Sedins in the face.
Ex-Calgary Flames player Theoren Fleury said, “I would say of all the guys who have played in the league after me, he is probably the closest to playing like me,”
Marchand’s rap sheet includes six suspensions for on-ice incidents and multiple fines. He is also known as “The Rat,” the original rat was former player Ken Linseman.
Love him or hate him, Brad Marchand is highly talented, and despite his mean reputation, he is the cornerstone of the Bruins’ success and would be an asset for any NHL team.
#4
Dave Schultz was one of the most hated NHL players of the 1970s. He was a Philadelphia Flyers Broad Street Bullies member and was nicknamed “The Hammer.”
Schultz and his teammates introduced an intimidation style of play. Their motto was If you can beat them in the alley, you can beat them on the ice. The Flyers learned this style of play when early in their existence, they were badly intimidated on the ice by a physically dominating St. Louis Blues squad. Team owner Ed Snyder swore that he would build a tougher team so his Flyers would never be bullied on the ice again. It has been the Flyer tradition ever since.
Schultz would sit in his hotel room before games envisioning fights against opposition tough guys.
During game 7 of the semifinal against the New York Rangers, the Schultz-Rolfe fight was the most memorable of Schultz’s career. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Schultz pummeled the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Dale Rolfe like a speed bag, delivering 18 successive punches with a head butt and some hair pulling to lay down one of the most embarrassing beatdowns of the ages.
Dave Schultz holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a season, with 472 during the 1974-75 season. He sits 35th on the NHL’s All-Time penalty leaders list with 2,294 penalty minutes.
#3
Claude Lemieux is among only eleven players from three NHL teams to win the Stanley Cup. He has won the Stanley Cup four times, Once in Montreal as a rookie in 1986, In 1995 with New Jersey, in 1996 with Colorado, and again in 2000 with the New Jersey Devils.
Lemieux is a highly skilled player and most productive at playoff time. He is ninth all-time in the NHL for playoff goals scored with 80. It is not his clutch playoff performances that he is best known for. He is best remembered for being a dirty player with a vicious side.
During the 1989 Stanley Cup Final, Lemieux is remembered for biting the finger of Calgary Flames right-winger Jim Peplinski, prompting him to say, “I didn’t know they allowed cannibalism in the NHL.”
If there was ever any doubt about what kind of player Lemieux was, it was removed in game six of the 1996 Western Conference Final, with the Avalanche leading the game 1-0 over the Red Wings. Lemieux delivered a vicious check from behind on Kris Draper of the Red Wings. The check sent Draper face-first into the boards. Draper suffered a concussion, a broken cheekbone, a broken nose, and a broken jaw., forcing Draper to undergo reconstructive surgery on his face while having his jaw wired shut for several weeks. Lemieux received a two-game suspension from the NHL for his crime.
Claude Lemieux finished his NHL career with 1777 penalty minutes, good for 78th place on the NHL’s All-Time penalty minute leaders list.
#2
Ulf Samuelsson is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played in the NHL from 1985-2000 for the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and Philadelphia Flyers. He scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Minnesota North Stars during an 8-0 blow-out in game six of the 1991 Stanley Cup Final.
Samuelsson is remembered for a deliberate knee-on-knee hit to Boston Bruin’s beloved Cam Neely during the 1991 Stanley Cup playoffs. The hit caused Neely to develop a condition called myositis ossificans, leading to Neely prematurely ending his NHL career.
At the time of the incident, the New York Times labeled Samuelsson as “the lowest form of a human being” and someone whose objective is “trying to hurt you and knock you out of the game.”
In 1995 while playing with the New York Rangers, Samuelsson was knocked out by a sucker punch from Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Many felt it was retribution. Domi received an eight game-suspension from the league and a fine; analysts viewed it as one of the cheapest shots in NHL history.
Ulf Samuelsson ranks 26th on the NHL’s All-Time penalty leaders list.
#1
Sean Avery tops my list of the most hated NHL players.
Sean “unsavory” Avery played 12 years in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and the Dallas Stars.
Avery was never a star player. He never scored more than 15 goals in any season or more than 40 points. He did make headlines as a loudmouth. Nobody or anything was off-limits for his vulgar, crude comments. He had a zeal for verbally attacking his teammates with no remorse or sense of accountability for his toxic tongue. He was a workplace bully hated by everyone he encountered and loved it.
His most despicable comment was on December 2, 2008. While getting ready for the morning skate with his Dallas Stars, he walked over to a group of reporters in the dressing room. He exclaimed, “I just want to comment on how it’s become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don’t know what that’s all about, but enjoy the game tonight.” At the time, Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf and Los Angeles Kings center Jarret Stoll were each dating two of Avery’s ex-girlfriends.
The NHL suspended him within hours for “conduct detrimental to the league or the game of hockey.” He received a six-game suspension from the NHL.
On December 14, 2008, the Stars announced that Avery would not remain with the team. It was later revealed that coach Dave Tippett and several Dallas players were unwilling to accept him on the team, most notably Mike Modano and Marty Turco.
During game three of the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals, Avery drew the ire of New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur when he turned his back on the play to face Brodeur and screened him during a two-man advantage. The next day, the NHL implemented a new rule to make it an unsportsmanlike action, constituting a minor penalty. It became known as the “Avery Rule.”
Other instances of bad behavior include ridiculing former Kings teammate Dustin Brown about his lisp. Publically blaming NHLPA president Bob Goodenow for wasting an entire season with a battle that alienated fans and yielded few results during the 2004-05 lockout. Shouting obscenities at a fan who had been heckling him during a game against the Boston Bruins on November 1, 2008. In an interview, he commented that NHL hockey players are not very smart.
On March 30, 2013, Avery sent out a tweet on Twitter saying, “Fire this CLOWN. His players hate him and won’t play for his BS.” Tortorella was fired on May 29, 2013, after losing to the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Avery was quoted in the New York Post saying that he “had a huge smile” on his face after finding out about Tortorella’s firing. He again commented, “It’s not that I’m happy for myself. I’m happy for the Rangers and Ranger fans.”
Even Avery’s mother-in-law was not beyond his bullying, as she had a restraining order placed on him in 2017.
Conclusion
These are some of the most hated players of all time; some are hated for how they play, others for making a career out of injuring other players or obnoxious teammates.
Many players are more than worthy of being on this list. Some of them are NHL Hall of Famers.
Honourable, or maybe dishonorable, is more appropriate, but here are a few that could easily supplant any of my top ten most hated NHL players of All-Time.
- Gordie Howe
- Mark Messier
- Dave “Tiger” Williams NHL All-Time penalty minute leader (3,971)
- Billy Smith
- Dale Hunter
- Tie Domi
- Bob Probert
- Donald Brashear
- Scott Stevens
- Bryan Marchment
Keep Your Stick on the Ice.
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