Top 50 Most Legendary Fighters to Lace Up for the Canucks

[Kevin Biestra]

9 hours ago, apollo said:

Far more worthy than Troy Crowder and his 30 games as a canuck LOL ... sorry but you dont get recognition amogst icons that played for this glorious franchise with 30 games played...

 

It was about enforcing legends that have suited up for the Canucks.  A lot of people don't even know the Canucks ever had Crowder or Cochrane or the wildman Randy Holt in the lineup at one point.  These guys are the legends of old time hockey.

 

Probert / Crowder is the closest thing the NHL has had to its own Frazier / Ali, where everybody was talking about the fight at work and waiting for the rematch.

 

Guys like Crowder, Coxe, Cochrane, Stern.  We're lucky to be able to say they were Canucks, not the other way around.

[apollo]

2 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Crowder, Coxe, Cochrane, Stern.  We're lucky to be able to say they were Canucks, not the other way around.

It wasn't meant to come across as disrespect to those guys tbh.... But if you're talking about Canucks best fighting legends... Then Rick is absolutely a must have poll answer. 

 

"Top Greatest Super Best Fighting Legend to Play for the Canucks..." 

 

Rypien was the epitome of what your poll is asking... He is a former NHLer and last I checked he won't be joining us on the ice anytime soon (he's always here in spirit) ...

 

He spent his entire career with our franchise...

 

Show me another 5'11 guy that over a third of his fights were against men with 50 lbs on him... 

 

Ripper is the best fighter in Canucks history and it's not even close. I've looked up all these guys you've mentioned. 

 

No one is constantly standing up for his teammates against far larger men like ripper did. 

 

Rest in Peace Legend. Forever the #1 pound for pound fighter in the history of sports if you ask me. I'm sure ripper would dust mcgregor in 1 round. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by apollo

[apollo]

Sorry for long rant... I shouldn't take hockey this seriously lol 

 

You're essentially saying Rick isn't a legend because he played for our more recent teams? So Kobe isn't a legend either?

 

If you were an LA fan you wouldn't wait until 2035 to call Kobe a legend 

 

Ripper is absolutely a legend and if he had got the proper medical help early on he'd probably still be a Canuck and a fan favourite no doubt. 

 

He only left because his play had suffered and management noticed... This was directly as a result of mental illness. Ripper had all the tools to play into his late 30s. 

[Kevin Biestra]

4 minutes ago, apollo said:

Sorry for long rant... I shouldn't take hockey this seriously lol 

 

You're essentially saying Rick isn't a legend because he played for our more recent teams? So Kobe isn't a legend either?

 

If you were an LA fan you wouldn't wait until 2035 to call Kobe a legend 

 

Ripper is absolutely a legend and if he had got the proper medical help early on he'd probably still be a Canuck and a fan favourite no doubt. 

 

He only left because his play had suffered and management noticed... This was directly as a result of mental illness. Ripper had all the tools to play into his late 30s. 

 

Heh, man I've been over this in the thread but I'll try to state more clearly.

 

I just left Rypien out and sort of unofficially gave him a Wayne Maki type place in the whole thing.  If I'm actually pushed to do a real ranking of fighting legends for what they did on the ice, especially for whole career and not just as a Canuck, his body of work really doesn't match up very favorably to some of these guys.  Tiger is literally the Wayne Gretzky of penalty minutes.  But like Wayne Maki, he was on his way to building that body of work.  I figured, let Rick stand alone off to the side and watch these guys fight for what @Baratheon rather appropriately called "the Rick Rypien Trophy."

 

Kobe Bryant didn't have anything left to show us that he hadn't already displayed on the court.  He is 4th in career points in the NBA so if I'm remembering the order right, he holds the same position as Gordie Howe.

 

Hughes just had most of a great rookie year on the blueline.  But if I'm going to start a poll about who had the greatest rookie season as a defenseman, I'd rather just leave Luc Bourdon out of the list that includes Hughes, Tallon, Guevremont, Ohlund, etc.  For a few reasons.

 

So, people are welcome to make their own polls or lists are whatever.  If they weren't upset about me leaving Rypien off the list they'd be upset about his not getting enough votes if he were on it.  Is the latter really that much better?

 

 

 

[Kevin Biestra]

9 hours ago, apollo said:

Rest in Peace Legend. Forever the #1 pound for pound fighter in the history of sports if you ask me. I'm sure ripper would dust mcgregor in 1 round. 

 

I don't know if you're serious about Rypien beating McGregor pound for pound in a fight or not.  I won't say it's impossible, but I also will say that McGregor isn't exactly the pound for pound kind in the history of fighting.  Jerry Quarry was 200 pounds and faced off against the greats of the golden age of the heavyweight boxing division.  Randy Couture was basically a 205 pounder that fought in the up-to-265 heavyweight division.  Royce Gracie won the early UFC titles with no weight limit at all at around 175 pounds.  BJ Penn was the 155 pound champ and went the distance against 205 pound champ Lyoto Machida.

 

Rypien was a spirited and good fighter on the ice.  But if you think these guys are going to take the skates off, step into a boxing ring or a cage and do anything but get besmirched against top tier pro fighters, you're in for a surprise.  Not just talking about Rypien, I mean anyone - Tiger, Gino, Laraque, Probert, Brashear...  Even top tier MMA guys are at best okay against real boxers in a straight boxing match.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Kevin Biestra

[Captain Canuck #12]

I voted for Odjick because he was the best crazy-scary, psycho-killer type of fighter the Canucks ever had.  A true legend in that regard.  But as for best technical fighters, my first choice would have been Rypien hands down, followed fairly closely by Brashear.  It's also too bad that not enough posters on this board are old enough to remember Randy Holt, who was actually pretty similar to Odjick in his legendary fighting status.  He just didn't stay with the Canucks long enough, nor have enough fights posted on hockeyfights.com, for people to appreciate his fighting legacy.

[apollo]

 I figured, let Rick stand alone off to the side and watch these guys fight for what @Baratheon rather appropriately called "the Rick Rypien Trophy."

 

 

 

In this case I can definitely see your angle. Sorry for going turbo homer on ya! I can sleep at peace now knowing this is a Rick rypien tribute trophy. 

 

I will ponder my thoughts and make a vote... I'm leaning towards tiger or gino... Donald and Cooker are hard to bypass too. 

 

 

Hmmm... 

[apollo]

14 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

I don't know if you're serious about Rypien beating McGregor pound for pound in a fight or not.  I won't say it's impossible, but I also will say that McGregor isn't exactly the pound for pound kind in the history of fighting.  Jerry Quarry was 200 pounds and faced off against the greats of the golden age of the heavyweight boxing division.  Randy Couture was basically a 205 pounder that fought in the up-to-265 heavyweight division.  Royce Gracie won the early UFC titles with no weight limit at all at around 175 pounds.  BJ Penn was the 155 pound champ and went the distance against 205 pound champ Lyoto Machida.

 

Rypien was a spirited and good fighter on the ice.  But if you think these guys are going to take the skates off, step into a boxing ring or a cage and do anything but get besmirched against top tier pro fighters, you're in for a surprise.  Even top tier MMA guys are at best okay against real boxers in a straight boxing match.

 

 

I should have said rypien could whoop Connor if they both had skates on. In mma rules yea I doubt he'd stand a chance. 

 

I think he'd fare better in a boxing match tho. But even then boxers have trained all their lives for their specific craft 

[King Heffy]

44 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

Heh, man I've been over this in the thread but I'll try to state more clearly.

 

I just left Rypien out and sort of unofficially gave him a Wayne Maki type place in the whole thing.  If I'm actually pushed to do a real ranking of fighting legends for what they did on the ice, especially for whole career and not just as a Canuck, his body of work really doesn't match up very favorably to some of these guys.  Tiger is literally the Wayne Gretzky of penalty minutes.  But like Wayne Maki, he was on his way to building that body of work.  I figured, let Rick stand alone off to the side and watch these guys fight for what @Baratheon rather appropriately called "the Rick Rypien Trophy."

 

Kobe Bryant didn't have anything left to show us that he hadn't already displayed on the court.  He is 4th in career points in the NBA so if I'm remembering the order right, he holds the same position as Gordie Howe.

 

Hughes just had most of a great rookie year on the blueline.  But if I'm going to start a poll about who had the greatest rookie season as a defenseman, I'd rather just leave Luc Bourdon out of the list that includes Hughes, Tallon, Guevremont, Ohlund, etc.  For a few reasons.

 

So, people are welcome to make their own polls or lists are whatever.  If they weren't upset about me leaving Rypien off the list they'd be upset about his not getting enough votes if he were on it.  Is the latter really that much better?

 

 

 

I retract my suggestion that Ripper needs to be up there.  Very well said.

[Kevin Biestra]

15 minutes ago, Captain Canuck #12 said:

I voted for Odjick because he was the best crazy-scary, psycho-killer type of fighter the Canucks ever had.  A true legend in that regard.  But as for best technical fighters, my first choice would have been Rypien hands down, followed fairly closely by Brashear.  It's also too bad that not enough posters on this board are old enough to remember Randy Holt, who was actually pretty similar to Odjick in his legendary fighting status.  He just didn't stay with the Canucks long enough, nor have enough fights posted on hockeyfights.com, for people to appreciate his fighting legacy.

 

Randy Holt and Tiger Williams were both animals.  If they had been on the Canucks at the same time, the whole team would have gone to jail for murder.

[Kevin Biestra]

22 minutes ago, apollo said:

I should have said rypien could whoop Connor if they both had skates on. In mma rules yea I doubt he'd stand a chance. 

 

I think he'd fare better in a boxing match tho. But even then boxers have trained all their lives for their specific craft 

 

Wouln't surprise me if Rypien wrecked him under those circumstances.  As far as I know, the only guy in Ireland that ever knew how to skate was Theoren Fleury when he was playing there.

[IBatch]

As far as fighters go - and given the metrics of what Biestra stated - something I’ve suggested too - and Baratheon acknowledged by posting it - it’s the Rick Rypien award.   And it doesn’t  the matter if a guy played one game or 1000 with us - his entire body of work matters, from a pure fighting standpoint and quality of competition this is how I’d rank the fighters.  I’ve watched the Canucks for a long time / but have also particularly enjoyed the fisticuffs aspect regardless of uniform and watched 1000’s of fights and think enforcers were both loved and required - and very much missed.   Watch Ken Daneyko’s blurb on how Crowder changed everything for his team when he came in...even better Ice   Gaurdians.  Go find the blurb form Gilles about his nemesis...and how the second time he fought him things were different...and Fraser did well against the pre-Probert heavyweight champ was too.  For reference material I have a half dozen magazines from the 90’s which include legends like Dave Brown and 80’s tough guys in their twilight phase.  Gino was as high as 13...Brashear number one three years in a row just while with us. 
 

1. Brashear - hugging or not / demolished or dominated the competition of which only Gino, Crowder, Coxe, Fraser and Williams matched

 

2. Crowder - best start of career of anyone on this list.  First Probert (a rare loss for Bob) - then destroyed Coxe and plowed through most of the league.

 

3. Coxe.  Best fight(s) ever with Probert period.  And aside from that great too. 
 

4. Williams.  Maybe not the best - but fought everyone.   Tough guys from the 70-80’s were animals.  Tiger heart - at 5’11 190lbs not a heavy but beat a lot of them. 
 

5. Fraser.  Punch power counts and same with the guys he dropped with.  Fought the best and handled him self quite nicely (although not as well as Brashear and Crowder did). 

6. Gino.  The most legendary of the group.  Super high quality of competition but couldn’t beat the best of the best ... Brown (a legend) handled him easily. 
 

7.  Kurtenbach.  He’s a tough one as hard to find video of him.  Although he’s ranked as a top 10 all-time Ranger (and Kocur is also on that list) - given that nobody tapped his pads without a death wish and what’s available on this site and others (thanks Smithers) - will take their word for it - considered a top fighter of his time.  
 

8. Antoski. For those that were around to watch this behomoth.  He really was our main eventer and nuclear deterrent (even over Gino) and answer to Sandy McCarthy who was starting his own reign of terror at the time.  Huge, imposing, and the other enforcers didn’t like dropping with him at all.  Great quality of competition over his limited (to accident) career.  Had the potential to become a top fighter in the league given his size and fighting ability. 
 

10.  Neely...made the mistake of dropping them with number one on this list when he was in MTL....ouch.  But he was a feared fighter and one tough hombre. 
 

10. Bridgeman.  Another power forward that was as tough as they come.

 

11. Rypien.  RIP.  It’s a testament to his career that he made that much of and impact - especially considering who’s still left.  And I’m being nice about this. 

 

11. Hunter .... he hunted his best before becoming a Canuck - like Williams, Brashear and Gino drooped them with anyone anytime regardless of the cost to personal safety.

 

12. Momesso - belongs above the below because - well you know.

 

13. Stern punched for us and against us. 
Fought all the time.

 

14.  The Strangler was a feared and respected fighter.  Look what we got for him.

 

15. Cochrane - for a little while was considered one of the best...until Probert fed him his lunch.

 

16. Delmore - likes to feed Blackhawks their lunch.

 

17.  Snepsts - well let’s just say we could invert 12-17 and that’s ok.  Fought all the tough men - and did just fine.

 

18. Keane.  Best or one of the best middle weights ever.   Really he should higher but this is still pretty great.

 

19. Bieksa...quality of competition hurts - but 3 losses is exceptional no matter how you cut it. 
 

20. Holt.  About the same size as Rypien and a Bieksa - similar outcomes. 
 

21. Diduck.  Someone on this site suggested he was a punching bag.  That person didn’t do his homework.  Fought 22 times for us..and rarely lost.

 

22. Murzyn.   Usually went for the arms and a take down - but was a good puncher in his own right and usually the first one to answer the bell (like Butcher) because he was on the ice so often. 

 

When making this list I several players were very close..  and I asked myself in their prime and if they went fought who would win (it helps when they actually did)..  also for guys that only fought a relatively few times (Jovo) just left them out. 

Edited May 5, 2020 by IBatch

[grandmaster]

Rick Rypien - 100%
 

How is he not on your list? 
 

He truly was a legend. Fearless and took on guys all the time who were twice his size (and would win!)

Edited May 6, 2020 by grandmaster

[NexusRift]

10 hours ago, grandmaster said:

Rick Rypien - 100%
 

How is he not on your list? 
 

He truly was a legend. Fearless and took on guys all the time who were twice his size (and would win!)

I thought about as many fighters as I could that were 'Nucks and totally gapped out. Then I saw this and was reminded as to the warrior that he was. (RIP) 

As far as pure talent in the fighting ring, he is it. Unfortunate of his tumultuous NHL career. He had talent in addition to his fighting skills. 

[Baratheon]

11 hours ago, grandmaster said:

Rick Rypien - 100%
 

How is he not on your list? 
 

He truly was a legend. Fearless and took on guys all the time who were twice his size (and would win!)

 

27 minutes ago, NexusRift said:

I thought about as many fighters as I could that were 'Nucks and totally gapped out. Then I saw this and was reminded as to the warrior that he was. (RIP) 

As far as pure talent in the fighting ring, he is it. Unfortunate of his tumultuous NHL career. He had talent in addition to his fighting skills. 

Guys you need to read at least some of the thread haha!

 

Cheers though!  We all love Ripper! 

[NexusRift]

8 minutes ago, Baratheon said:

 

Guys you need to read at least some of the thread haha!

 

Cheers though!  We all love Ripper! 

I'll admit. I'm lazy that way. I'm old and my lower back gets sore if I hang in from of my iMac too long.

But yea. I use to be a Moderator on a Forum and I used to rag on members that didn't do Searches and stuff to save on Bandwidth. Thus is a much bigger forum than that one though.

Apologies. A reply that just wasted some bandwidth and is off topic to boot!

 

Gino left an impression on me too. But I'm sure all the hype of the day regarding him swayed me into thinking that. He was a tough customer though.

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, NexusRift said:

I thought about as many fighters as I could that were 'Nucks and totally gapped out. Then I saw this and was reminded as to the warrior that he was. (RIP) 

As far as pure talent in the fighting ring, he is it. Unfortunate of his tumultuous NHL career. He had talent in addition to his fighting skills. 

Sure did.   Fraser and Williams lead the list when it comes to talent and fighting ability.   Gino leads the list for legendary status as a Canuck.   Keane, Williams and Ripper lead the list in pound for pound (Keane was the most feared fighter not in the NHL at one point - nobody has done that before or since as a middleweight)...Walker is pretty close too. 
 

Crowder and Brashear lead the list as best fighters and overall fighting skills.  Coxe leads the list as best fight(s) as a Canuck (both with Probert) - including Proberts first NHL fight ever...wow what a way to start your career...that said Crowder’s were more  impressive given the result as a NJ devil - watch Daneyko’s blurb about what Crowder did when he joined the league - and how that changed everything  for himself and New Jersey (team felt three feet taller) - first fight beat Probert in a top ranked battle - second fight fed Coxe his lunch and dropped him.   Then went and proceeded to decimate the best of the best for a couple of months before Berube scored a clear decision. 
 

Brashear made mince meat out of so many top fighters it would take paragraphs just to list them.   And not including the ear punch fights.  Despite this he wasn’t my favourite fighter.   Case in point at a live game and he beat the tar out of Odgers - a decent fighter but really outclassed.   Parker at the time was considered an up and coming heavyweight contender and went with McAllister (who did great!)...bully.  
 

Edit:  I was ten feet away when Brashear started to pound away at nose bandaid (that’s Odgers) - but even though he was turning his face into a bruised mess stopped watching to the main event 40 feet away McAllister and Parker - thought he’d be dead meat given how fearsome Parker’s reputation was (before the NHL he was already considered the next heavyweight champ)  - but NO! They exchanged punishing blows and Parker went down!  The went back to Brashear who decided to let Odgers live.   
 

Honourable mentions to Antoski - who while here supplanted Gino as our top heavy given his quality of opposition and massive build.   A tier below Brookbank and McAllister.  As far as skill and fighting ability I should have said Neely (who Brashear handled easily when starting his career in MTL - Neely didn’t get one punch in) and Mel Bridgman.  Both these guys would have fed Bertuzzi his lunch. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by IBatch

[Baratheon]

50 minutes ago, NexusRift said:

I'll admit. I'm lazy that way. I'm old and my lower back gets sore if I hang in from of my iMac too long.

But yea. I use to be a Moderator on a Forum and I used to rag on members that didn't do Searches and stuff to save on Bandwidth. Thus is a much bigger forum than that one though.

Apologies. A reply that just wasted some bandwidth and is off topic to boot!

 

Gino left an impression on me too. But I'm sure all the hype of the day regarding him swayed me into thinking that. He was a tough customer though.

Yeah Gino is definitely getting the votes because of the phrasing of the question.  "Legendary"  That's Gino all day!  When they retired Bures number I remember Gino getting an awesome reaction from the crowd.

 

If the question was "best" fighter then my vote would go to Brashear easily.  As others have mentioned, Brashear was not always the most exciting.  Lennox Lewis (boxing) and Georges St. Pierre (MMA) were not known for being "exciting" either.  It is well known in combat sports that the wildest fighters are not always the 'best' fighters.  That's my reasoning anyway!  

[IBatch]

59 minutes ago, Baratheon said:

Yeah Gino is definitely getting the votes because of the phrasing of the question.  "Legendary"  That's Gino all day!  When they retired Bures number I remember Gino getting an awesome reaction from the crowd.

 

If the question was "best" fighter then my vote would go to Brashear easily.  As others have mentioned, Brashear was not always the most exciting.  Lennox Lewis (boxing) and Georges St. Pierre (MMA) were not known for being "exciting" either.  It is well known in combat sports that the wildest fighters are not always the 'best' fighters.  That's my reasoning anyway!  

KO’s are exciting for sure..same with wild abandon with no concern about defense.  Gino was always good at the start of his fights and had good defense too (ducked his chin) - but nobody would ever accuse him of grabbing on for fear of losing (although he did this too).  Brown demolished Gino and he couldn’t handle the true contenders (4/6 guys at any given time) but he was feared and respected...

 

Edit.  Add Gracie to the list - simply because his 30min fight against Shamrock was a big waste of time. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by IBatch

[Standing_Tall#37]

To me no one on this list screams Canuck more than Odjick, but the best legit heavyweight fights I saw coming from a heavyweight in a Canucks uniform was Brashear.... taking on the Laraques, Proberts and Grimsons of the league.