What does it take to be a great agitator in immediately’s NHL? Clearly, you have to have the power to get beneath the opponent’s pores and skin, however you don’t wish to be constantly placing your staff at a drawback by taking foolish penalties. You have got to have the ability to annoy your opponent on the scoresheet as properly, and also you actually can’t be a waste of a roster spot.
Some gamers have mastered the artwork of toeing the road of unlawful and authorized to discover a strategy to get their opponents off their video games. Listed below are the 5 greatest at it in your complete NHL.
Nazem Kadri
For higher or worse, Nazem Kadri has turn out to be one of many largest pests within the NHL. He isn’t afraid to play a bodily sport, however that comes with a price. He’s confronted six suspensions by the NHL since 2013 for behavioral points, together with his most up-to-date one coming throughout the 2021 NHL playoffs towards St. Louis Blues, when he acquired an eight-game ban for successful to the top of Justin Faulk.
However when Kadri isn’t appearing up, he’s a really efficient two-way ahead. That’s why the Colorado Avalanche took an opportunity on him after they acquired him for Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot in July 2019. He averaged 51 factors per 82 video games over the earlier three seasons and was an environment friendly five-on-five scorer, giving the Avalanche a lift as their second-line middle behind Nathan MacKinnon. Finally, he helped them win a Stanley Cup.
There’s little doubt his present staff, the Calgary Flames, is best with him within the lineup. Kadri quietly had a superb 2023-24 season, totaling 29 objectives and 75 factors in 82 video games. It seems that the Flames are retooling/rebuilding, so it is perhaps a tough 12 months or two whereas they work their approach again to being aggressive. However with Elias Lindholm now not on the staff, Kadri is their first-line middle, and that ought to result in him producing on the scoring sheet whereas nonetheless being annoying to play towards.
It’s additionally price noting that whereas Kadri is a pest, he’s lower down on the unlawful hits, so it seems he’s realized the right way to be a pest inside the guidelines of the sport.
Travis Konecny
Just like the Flames, the Philadelphia Flyers are in the course of a rebuild/retool but in addition have one of the vital annoying gamers within the NHL. Travis Konecny is just not afraid to stir it up together with his opponents, however he’ll additionally mild the lamp and scoresheet. He’s been the Flyers’ most constant scorer over the past two seasons, totaling 30-plus objectives in every whereas being shut to a degree per sport.
Konecny has been the Flyers’ best five-on-five scorer over that stretch, averaging 2.27 factors per 60 minutes. He excels at creating offense off the push, and the Flyers usually management play when he’s on the ice. The distinction between Konecny and somebody like Kadri is Konecny usually avoids calls from the league’s Division of Participant Security.
Nonetheless, Konecny will discover methods to get beneath his opponent’s pores and skin. Keep in mind when he slashed New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith, which induced Smith to retaliate and get suspended for 2 video games? Or when Montreal Canadiens blueliner Kaiden Guhle slashed Konecny and acquired a one-game suspension himself? That’s what Konecny has a knack for doing whereas being considered one of his staff’s best scorers, making him the perfect pest for the NHL in 2024.
Brady Tkachuk
The Ottawa Senators could also be struggling to get out of their rebuild, however they’ve one of many NHL’s largest pests in Brady Tkachuk. Whereas he’s not the scorer his brother is, he’s constantly produced for a Senators staff that has struggled with offensive consistency in recent times.
Tkachuk has come into his personal over the past three seasons, averaging 35 objectives and 76 factors per 82 video games. He’s been one of many league’s higher five-on-five purpose scorers, averaging 1.02 objectives per 60 minutes, a top-50 fee amongst forwards with no less than 1,000 minutes logged because the begin of the 2021-22 season. And his offensive impacts are constantly among the many greatest league-wide.
Not solely does the youthful Tkachuk brother put up factors, however he’s not afraid to trigger havoc. He’s totaled over 100 penalty minutes in every of the final three seasons; his 134 PIMs in 2023-24 have been second league-wide to Utah HC’s Liam O’Brien. He’s a participant that just about any NHL GM would covet, given his offensive manufacturing and knack for annoying his opponent.
Matthew Tkachuk
Are you shocked to see the opposite Tkachuk on this checklist? Matthew Tkachuk is just not afraid to get within the soiled areas and trigger havoc across the internet. Whereas he doesn’t discover himself within the penalty field as typically as his brother, he’s nonetheless one of many league’s penalty leaders; he racked up 88 PIMs final season, a top-20 fee league-wide.
Tkachuk has additionally confronted a handful of suspensions, together with one for elbowing Drew Doughty in 2017. Doughty has not been shy in his emotions about Tkachuk, going so far as to say, “[he’s] a man that kinda thinks he’s actually good however isn’t.”
Associated: Matthew Tkachuk Is An Elite Agitator
Although Doughty doesn’t like Tkachuk, it’s clear Tkachuk is now a standout two-way ahead among the many league’s prime scorers. He does a little bit of every thing, making him probably the greatest younger gamers within the league. Add the sting he performs with, and there’s a participant who is aware of the right way to get beneath his opponent’s pores and skin fairly properly.
Brad Marchand
You needed to determine we’d see his title sooner or later throughout this dialogue. How do I do know that Brad Marchand is an effective agitator? He appears to get pleasure from bothering opponents, and he doesn’t at all times do it legally. In a 2020 ballot carried out by The Athletic, 29 % of NHL gamers voted Marchand because the dirtiest participant within the league (From ‘The 2020 NHL Ballot: Gamers have their say on the perfect participant, worst referee, ingesting buddies and extra’, The Athletic – 1/20/2020).
However usually, Marchand’s actions are fairly innocent, like when he began licking NHL gamers for some unknown motive. He’s a smaller participant and doesn’t shrink back from dropping the gloves. However he has toned down his antics in current seasons, changing into extra of a scorer somewhat than an agitator. Nonetheless, he hasn’t utterly prevented a name from the Dept. of Participant Security; his most up-to-date suspension got here in 2022 for roughing/high-sticking Tristan Jarry.
Marchand will nonetheless get beneath your pores and skin regardless of firming it down, making him all of the extra harmful given his scoring output. He completed with 85 factors in every of 2016-17 and 2017-18 and set a career-high in 2018-19, with 100 factors in 79 video games. Had the 2020-21 season not been 56 video games because of the COVID pandemic, he would’ve been on tempo to complete with 106 factors.
Although Marchand might not be on the peak of his powers anymore, he nonetheless completed with 67 factors in 82 video games a season in the past. Father Time catches up with everybody, however he’s nonetheless one of many league’s extra annoying gamers. So long as he’s within the NHL, I’m certain his opponents will proceed to consider him as one of many league’s most annoying, and maybe, dirtiest gamers.
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