Edmonton Oilers – Georges Laraque
Georges Laraque, a name synonymous with the use of fighting and enforcing in hockey. In a generation that loved to drop the gloves, Laraque was at the forefront. He made a name for himself, and is still well-known to this day for how effectively he played the role of enforcer during his time in the NHL and with the Oilers specifically.
Laraque spent the first eight seasons, 490 games in total, of his 695-game career with Edmonton. During his time in Edmonton he would only break the 20-point mark once and broke the 100-minute penalty minute mark four times, finishing with 99 once as well.
Those penalty minutes were almost entirely due to scrapping with other enforcers.
While Laraques isn’t in the top ten all-time in games played for the Oilers, he sits comfortably in eighth in penalty minutes with 826. While there are other names ahead of him on that list like Dave Semenko that could make a case here, none of them had an air of intimidation about them that Laraque did.
It didn’t matter who you were, or how tough you thought you were, Laraque was always willing to fight when the opportunity arose. This was showcased by his willingness to fight guys like Stu Grimson, Tony Twist, Rob Ray and Bob Probert.
And he didn’t just fight them regularly, but he beat them often as well. His ability to fight, and beat,some of the best of his generation regularly is why he has his reputation and why he is rightly considered the best ever fighter for the Edmonton Oilers.