Behind The Net: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: College Football Preseason Top 25 Rankings

The Greatest Goon Seasons in Hockey History

Surprisingly, the true Golden Age of Goons was the 1991-92 season.  The Stanley Cup Finals featured the Pittsburgh Penguins, who totaled a pedestrian 1907 penalty minutes during the regular season, against the Chicago Black Hawks, who didn't even lead the league with 2663.  The Pens were lightweights, with power forwards Rick Tocchet and Kevin Stevens and legendary penalty-taker Ulf Samuelsson doing the bulk of the dirty work.  They had just one pure goon, Jay Caufield, who didn't play enough to rack up gaudy penalty totals.  The Hawks, on the other hand, assembled perhaps the biggest goon crew in history: Chris Chelios, Steve Smith, Bryan Marchment, Mike Peluso and Stu Grimson, all of whom dressed in the finals.

Those guys make the 1974-75 Johnstown Jets, who had all of 1594 PIMs and spawned the movie Slapshot, look like  a skill-focused hockey team.  The Jets' reputation for goonery is undeserved; the script writers took liberties with the truth: in real life, one of the Hanson brothers - Steve Carlson - never exceeded 100 penalty minutes in a single season.  Our sepia-toned photographs of Terry O'Reilly breaking someone's teeth deceive us: the most penalty minutes any of Don Cherry's hard-ass Bruins teams had was 1229, which would have placed them dead last by more than 300 minutes in 1991-92. 

Let's look at the single-season penalty minute leaders in the NHL:

Star-divide

 

Year Player GP G A PIM
1974-75 Dave Schultz 76 9 17 472
1981-82 Paul Baxter 76 9 34 409
1991-92 Mike Peluso 63 6 3 408
1992-93 Marty McSorley 81 15 26 399
1987-88 Bob Probert 74 29 33 398
1977-78 Dave Schultz 66 9 25 378
1987-88 Basil McRae 80 5 11 378
1985-86 Joey Kocur 59 9 6 377
1988-89 Tim Hunter 75 3 9 375
1997-98 Donald Brashear 77 9 9 372

 

Notice that six of those top ten seasons were put together between 1985 and 1993, by six different players.  Schultz's goonery, on the other hand, stood out in his era.  Not for his fights, mind you - he had 27 in his record-setting season, the same as Jared Boll did two seasons ago - but for his sheer stupidity on the ice.  Schultz took 16 misconduct penalties that season along with five game misconducts, leaving him with a very pedestrian 262 minutes on legitimate penalties (thanks to Flyers History for this data).  You couldn't do that today - you can't keep dropping the bench down to 16 guys for half a period to serve penalties and expect to win consistently.  If you got five game misconducts, you'd probably also merit a lengthy suspension.

Some of the truly impressive penalty performances actually come from the minor leagues:

 

Year Leagues Player GP G A P
1997-98 WCHL/IHL Chad Wagner 56 5 5 649
1986-87 IHL Kevin Evans 73 19 31 648
1993-94 CoHL/ECHL Andy Bezeau 59 30 26 604
1995-96 IHL Andy Bezeau 74 10 11 590
2002-03 UHL/AHL Brad Wingfield 66 29 16 578
2001-02 UHL/AHL Brad Wingfield 57 18 11 561
1978-79 IHL Mark Toffolo 78 2 11 557
2004-05 AHL Brian McGrattan 71 7 1 551
1998-99 WCHL/IHL Chad Wagner 47 3 6 550
1985-86 IHL Chris McSorley 75 27 28 545
1995-96 ECHL/AHL Trevor Senn 59 18 31 529
1996-97 AHL Dennis Bonvie 73 9 20 522
2001-02 WCHL Ashlee Langdone 56 3 6 514
1995-96 ECHL Rob McCaig 55 3 11 512
2007-08 Rus Darcy Verot 43 2 1 511

 

What got me thinking about this question was watching some of Bezeau's fights from a decade ago.  There are a huge number of videos of him on Youtube going completely nuts.  The "code" about not wailing on a guy after you fall to the ice and the linesmen are separating you?  Bezeau never heard of it.  I'm surprised to see that he's not even the biggest penalty-getter ever: Wagner beats him out in a single-season and his two-year total is just slightly higher too.

0 recs  |  Comment 2 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

More from Behind The Net

NHL Fighting and Chess Revisited

Jan 2010 by Hawerchuk - 8 comments

Fighting: Just like Chess

Nov 2009 by Hawerchuk - 2 comments

Comments

Display:

I wonder if part of those big penalty totals came from the refs starting to hand out more misconducts, and later the early years of the instigator rule. Also, when did they start tossing guys for simultaneous fights? That might have an impact.

As for Schultz, I’m given to understand that refs would sometimes give him misconducts at minor provocation simply to get him out of their hair and keep games from getting out of hand. I don’t know how accurate this is, but it would explain a thing or two.

Finally, speaking of ‘91-’92, Link Gaetz of the expansion Sharks just misses your list at 326 PIM…in 48 GP. Extrapolate that over a then-80 game season, and you get 543 PIM, which would’ve handily smashed the Hammer’s record.

SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.

by Doogie2K on Nov 16, 2009 11:08 PM EST reply actions  

Good point on Link. But he couldn’t play enough hockey to even have an 80-game career. Being a good goon apparently requires more than fists.

I don’t really know the history of the fighting rules, but I imagine they had major impacts – like the rule changes for guys leaving the bench…

by Hawerchuk on Nov 17, 2009 1:38 AM EST up reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Hockey Analysis and Statistics
Start posting on Behind The Net »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Pens_ring_small
Why The Kovalchuk Contract Is Unique
Ryan_small
Koivu's contract compared to Plekanec & Backstrom
Dsc_0572_small
Wimbledon Black Swan
Pens_ring_small
Individual PDO Numbers

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

PHILADELPHIA - MAY 16:  A fan of the Philadelphia Flyers holds up a sign reading "Next Goalie" behind goalie Carey Price #32 of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wachovia Center on May 16, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Habs Finally Lock Up Carey Price, Sign Goalie To Two-Year Deal

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman answers questions during a pre-game media availability before the Pittsburgh Penguins season opener against the New York Rangers in a NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) +25 updates

Ultimatum? NHL Reportedly Threatens To Toss Out Kovalchuk, Luongo Deals Without NHLPA Concessions

Photo +1 updates

Report: Donald Fehr Hands NHLPA List Of Conditions On Becoming Union Leader

More from SBNation.com >


Managers

Hawerchuk_small Hawerchuk