TSN ranks Bruins’ Lucic as the best player among fighters
Lucic pounds Grant/By S. Bradley
People were complaining all season long that Bruins forward Milan Lucic wasn’t fighting enough and he wasn’t playing physical enough.
Luckily, Lucic didn’t give in to his detractors and kept his hands preserved for a 30-goal season, which led the Bruins in that department during the regular season.
Although his fight total dropped from 10 in his last full NHL season (2008-09) to seven this year, Lucic still did enough walloping to earn some accolades for more than his scoring. According to Scott Cullen of TSN.ca, Lucic was the best player among fighters (guys with five or more fighting majors) in the NHL this season.
In fact, the Bruins, who were second as a team with 71 fights, placed four players in the league’s top 10, according to Cullen’s ranking system. Nathan Horton (third), Adam McQuaid (sixth) and Gregory Campbell (eighth) joined Lucic in the top 10. Shawn Thornton came in at No. 15.
In the top 20, only the New York Rangers came close to the Bruins with three players ranked that high.
The moral of the story: the Bruins know how to find players that can put the puck in the net and land a punch. Other teams might try to duplicate the defending Stanley Cup champions’ success, so those who don’t like fighting in hockey might want to divert their eyes.
Rich, my argument had anything to do with fighting skill, but it had everything to do with the numbers.
This makes me even prouder to be a Bruins fan.
You may think that fighting skill “should” be given more weight, but it isn’t. You want it given more weight, get a job at TSN and write your own story.
And, again, if winning fights is a criteria, Lucic ain’t #1. Sorry, but he just isn’t. He lost more than he won this year.
Yeah, you gotta win the fight. Tom Kostopoulos will get in a fight a week and probably put up around 20 points.
But I’ll be damned to find a Kostopoulos win on youtube…
Gaustad is just the guy who Buffalo sends out to get whipped when they need to fight, and I don’t think his rating is outrageous, but would be near the bottom of the list if the league ranked fighters by their ability to fight.
Other comparisons lower on the list:
12. Brandon Prust 82 13 16 29 +2 160 64.65 18
Close in points, better +/-, more PIM (hurts team), and more that triple the fights. With roughly a lot less ice time.
13. Wayne Simmonds 80 14 16 30 -2 75 64.44 6
Same point total, better +/-, less PIM leaving his team shorthanded less, and one more fight. With close, to similar ice time.
Anyway, sorry. I don’t mean to rail, but I just don’t think that Guastad belongs that high on the list; all things considered.
Rich, I didn’t say anything about Gaustad fighting, I said that he has the size to be a more physical player/to use his size more on the ice.
But, since you brought up his fighting, I’ll say that he made the list with the lowest possible prerequisite number in that category. In fact, look at the comparison between him and the guy right under him Soupy:
7. Paul Gaustad 81 12 19 31 -7 101 66.24 5
8. Gregory Campbell 80 13 16 29 +11 93 65.94 11
Campbell has pretty much the same points, a much better +/-, pretty much same PIM, and twice the fights. Just that comparison alone should have knocked Guastad down a peg and there’s other comparisons to made lower on the list, I’m sure.
If it’s a list of “guys who fight” then that category on the list should be given a bit more worth, no?
Guys, it’s not a ranking of the best fighters. Not even of competent fighters. It is a ranking of who, among people who fight, is the best player IN OTHER ASPECTS OF THE GAME. It doen’t matter if Gaustad never wins a fight. And, for that matter, it doesn’t mean that TSN is saying Lucic is a monster fighter (don’t forget, he lost more than he won, over the past couple of years). They’re saying he’s the best player out of those who also fight.
Which is also why Thornton is ranked about right. I love the guy, and he can fight. But McQuaid and Campbell are better players in other aspects of the game.
What Bruins fans should take from this is not that the Bruins are the toughest. It’s that the Bruins, while tough, are skilled.
‘maybe corvo will take off the skirt and punch boys for a change.’ hahaha karl, nicee.
Rd,
I think Chara had only 1 fight last season, and you need 5 to qualify for this list.
I think this is a fair pick, although Chara is a Norris trophy candidate/winner and pretty much can’t be beat in a fight…
Besides the B’s on that list, I really like what I saw out of Cody McCormick last year. I think he’s got a pretty bright future ahead of him.
I can’t believe that Gaustad is so high on the list. Dude could do so much more with his size and just doesn’t.
Theo Peckham? Does he mean Teddy Peckman? ;-D
Perry lost to Datsyuk so no way does he deserve top 10 at all.
I was surprised to see Corey Perry not listed as #1….I guess he didn’t have the required, 5 fighting majors, in his 104 PIM’s last season.
He would look great in a B’s Sweater!
oh, and i love how quaider and soup made the top 10.
horton didn’t fight much before the spoked b so maybe corvo will take off the skirt and punch boys for a change.
The Bruins do it right. There are few cheap shots and little stick work, in their play. They play a physical, checking style of game. For a team do be ranked this high regarding fisticuffs, it was amazing that the majority of NHL players were rooting for Boston over Vancouver. I think Cullen’s evaluation is not fair to Thornton, Philadelphia or Chicago.
happy to have witness this year’s gordie against the crapitals.
Did they rank the biggest turtles? Vancouver might sweep the top 10!
Him and Ryane Clowe are the best.