Top 10 Lightning “enforcers’’ in team history

Posted Sep 9, 2008 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 9, 2008 at 09:38 PM

It will now be one week until training camp opens, which means - at least for the short term - this will be my last top 10 list. There will be plenty of writing options available to me for your reading consumption. By the way, if you want the chance to catch some of the players during their pre-camp get-togethers, this will be your last couple of days to see them out at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum. Friday will be the last day players will be doing some scrimmages. As of Monday when I stopped by for a few minutes, Steven Stamkos made his way to Tampa as well as Adam Hall, David Koci, Matt Carle, Ryan Craig and Nick Tarnasky.

Pretty crazy stuff flying around about Mats Sundin the past day or so, with Len Barrie stating Tampa Bay had interest if Sundin had interest in the Lightning. I wouldn’t count on it, although the possibility can’t be discounted as we have learned under the new regime in Tampa Bay. But the Lightning have a plethora of centers as it is, not to mention an overabundance of forwards. But Oren Koules and Barrie seem to be like Jon Gruden and quarterbacks - if they can walk, talk and shoot a hockey puck, they will be considered for a roster spot.

And as far as the possibility of Steven Stamkos going back to juniors, it’s just not going to happen. This guy is NHL ready and another year back in Sarnia will not help him, and may in fact set him back. Plus, you don’t hype the kid with his own website and not bring him to the NHL club. (By the way, the Seen Stamkos website is no longer active, it takes you the Lightning’s home page)

Now, onto the list:

I don’t have any real set criteria for this top 10, with the only exception being that a player had to appear in at least 20 games with the Lightning (which means Basil McRae will not make the list) and he really had to fill the role of somebody who was a regular combatant. I did take into account in some cases if one of these “enforces’’ was able to provide something other than just dropping the gloves, which may result in a bit of a higher ranking. As always, these are totally subjective, and I’m sure some of you guys will think I may have taken a few too many Andre Roy punches, but in the end, it’s just my opinion and I did not seek out others who would try to sway my opinion.

And all fight statistics are courtesy of hockeyfights.com

10 - Chris Dingman (2001-06): Sure, he isn’t known for a particular proficiency when it came to actually dropping the gloves in a game, some might even say he was more of a wrestler. But his 29 career fights in a Lightning uniform can’t be ignored. He was always willing to take on just about anybody in the league and stood up for his teammates on many an occasion. And during the 2004 Stanley Cup season, Dingman is somebody coach John Tortorella often sent out in the final minutes to protect leads, which added a dimension to Dingman’s game.

9 - Mick Vukota (1997-98): Can’t say I remember Vukota playing in a Lightning uniform, but I know he was a heavyweight during his time. Twice during his tenure with the New York Islanders, he racked up more than 290 penalty minutes. His one year - well, half-year really - with the Lightning he had 12 fights and 116 penalty minutes in 42 games.

8 - Matthew Barnaby (2000-02): Maybe Barnaby was more known for his Sean Avery-esque yapping, only Barnaby always backed up his words with actions and often his fists. He had a knack for getting under opposing players’ skin and knocking them off their game. He also was often good at the timing of his bouts, even a couple just after the opening puck drop, including one against Bill Guerin. And though his offensive numbers with Tampa don’t show it with four goals in 58 games, Barnaby could do more than just be a shift disturber. In his 58 games with the Lightning, Barnaby had 15 fights and 167 penalty minutes - two of his fights came against Zdeno Chara, who is about a foot taller, and Tie Domi.

7 - Sandy McCarthy (1997-99): He came in with the reputation as a fighter who had offensive abilities. While his five goals and 17 points in 81 games show he could chip in with some scoring, there just seemed to be more expected of him. Now, he could certainly throw hands with just about anybody in the league and he had 14 fights and 206 penalty minutes in his short time with Tampa Bay.

6 - Brantt Myhres (1994-95, 96-97): Another I don’t remember seeing a lot of, but I know of him very well and his reputation as a fighter is pretty well know. He did have five goals in his 62 games split between two seasons, but it’s his 16 fights and 217 penalty minutes that earned him his ice time. He went on to do more of the same with Philadelphia and San Jose after he left the Lightning.

5 - Gordie Dwyer (1999-2002): Big red was about as one-dimensional of an enforcer as they came under the old rules. He wasn’t going to produce much in terms of offense, wasn’t going to help out much in the defensive zone and had a limited skill set. But he was as willing a player as you could find. In his 78 career games with the Lightning, he had an incredible 30 fights (that’s just about one fight every 2.5 games) and piled up 291 penalty minutes. He likely would have had more if not for his 22 game suspension for abuse of an official during a preseason game.

4 - Andre Roy (2001-04, 2006-08): Certainly he’s not considered to be a heavyweight, but you can’t argue with how willing he was to take on the heavyweights in the league. And Andre can play and contribute in other areas, as evidenced by his 17 goals and 31 points in 218 games in a Lightning uniform. It also goes without say that Roy might be among the most popular players in team history having developed a bit of a cult hero status among the fan base. Roy’s 42 career fights in a Lightning uniform are the second most in team history while his 484 penalty minutes rank up close to the top as well.

3 - Kyle Freadrich (1999-2001): This was a bit of a tough one to rank so high, considering he only appeared in 23 games with Tampa Bay, which means he just barely meets the criteria. But Freadrich is still talked about quite a bit in Lightning circles as one of the toughest players to every play for the team. He was a beast at 6-foot-7, 260 pounds and I remember former Lightning coach Steve Ludzik talking about how Freadrich was going to be one of the most feared players in the league. While Freadrich didn’t quite attain that stature, his fight with Chicago’s Ryan VandenBussche is still legendary, especially to Matt Elich who had a tooth land right in front of him on the bench as the fight was going on. In his 23 career games, Freadrich had eight fights and compiled 75 penalty minutes.

2 - Rudy Poeschek (1993-97): I can still remember the time I walked through the Brandon mall and saw Poeschek strolling through with his girlfriend/wife (I’m not sure if he was marred at the time) the night after playing the Panthers in South Florida. And if you remember how some of those early Lightning-Panthers games went, you can picture what Poeschek’s face looked like. But then again, considering how much Poeschek dropped the gloves, he probably looked like that a lot. His most memorable fight came against Bob Probert one night at the old ThunderDome and I can still hear Larry Hirsch calling the fight, “Right by Poeschek, right by Poeschek, another right by Poeschek’’ In his 213 games with Tampa Bay, Poeschek had 44 career fights - the most of any Lightning player - and amassed 418 penalty minutes.

1 - Enrico Ciccone (1993-99): Before there was Andre Roy, there was Cicco, a very popular player during his time with the Lightning. He was the team’s tough guy for a number of years and was even mentor to a young Vinny Lecavalier for a short period of time (not in the fighting role, just in the veteran role). In just 135 games while wearing a Lightning jersey, Ciccone was credited with 30 fights, which do not include at least three in which he was not given a fighting major. And despite the fact he only appeared in 135 games, Ciccone ranks second all-time in franchise history with 604 penalty minutes.

Others who were considered for my list: Louie DeBrusk (19 fights in 54 games); Andrei Nazarov (7 fights in 40 games); Michel Petit (only because of his abuse of Eric Lindros during the 1996 playoffs); Reid Simpson (9 fights in 26 games); Nick Tarnasky (17 fights in 169 games).

For a recap of my other Top 10 lists this past month, here they were:

Top 10 new acquisitions

Top 10 Olympic moments

Top 10 NHL Arenas

Top 10 NHL road cities