Our completely fabricated, calendar-based 2000s All-Decade Team is not limited to traditional positions. While I have my fun mocking the irrelevance of one-dimensional enforcers in the post-lockout NHL, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate a willing or skilled fighter. And I certainly enjoyed the Webbs of the world back in their time -- particularly considering how they made some otherwise dull nights a little more exciting.
So without further ado, pick your enforcer for the Islanders All-Decade Team. The idea with this series is guys who played between 2000-01 and 2009-10 (for simplicity's and fake calendar's sake, more than anything else). That means Steve Webb is penalized -- hardly new territory for him -- because the 2000s portion was the tail end of his career. That also means the "years" listed below reference the latter calendar year of a given season. Nonetheless, here are the figures for the most frequent fighters of the last 10 years.
Fight totals come from the lovingly maintained HockeyFights.com, and are divided by preseason (because fights are often the only thing worth watching in preseason), regular season and postseason. Other stats, including fights per games played (F/GP) are regular-season only:
| Player | Years | GP | G | A | Pts. | Fights Pre. | Fights Reg. | Fights Post. | PIMs (reg.) | F/GP | SUVs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Cairns | 2001-2004 | 251 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 5 | 44 | 2 | 595 | 0.175 | 0 |
| Tim Jackman | 2008-2010 | 137 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 7 | 38 | 0 | 282 | 0.277 | 0 |
| Eric Godard | 2003-2006 | 107 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 34 | 0 | 260 | 0.318 | 0 |
| Jason Wiemer | 2003-2004 | 94 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 140 | 0.256 | 0 |
| Arron Asham | 2003-2007 | 300 | 47 | 58 | 105 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 315 | 0.07 | 0 |
| Steve Webb | 2001-2004 | 145 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 216 | 0.124 | 0 |
| Brendan Witt | 2007-2010 | 242 | 5 | 29 | 34 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 321 | 0.05 | 1 |
| Chris Simon | 2007-2008 | 95 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 118 | 0.084 | 0 |
| Andy Sutton | 2008-2010 | 115 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 162 | 0.052 | 0 |
| Zdeno Chara | 2001-2001 | 82 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 157 | 0.061 | 0 |
Color me impressed how high up that list Jackman is. He's not an exciting fighter, but the fact he willingly takes on that role against other teams' heavies (many whose sole purpose is to fight other one-trick goons) speaks to the man's courage. I'm not sure how you vote for best enforcer: Best pure fighter? Most willing combatant? Most courageous? Guy who's able to fight and actually play the game (see Asham, Arron)?
Thought it's supposed to be based on Isles work between 2000-01 and 2009-10, I suspect many of you will simply pick your favorite player on this list. That's fine. Recent studies show Internet polls are not 100% scientifically based.
Leave your fight memories, your quibbles (Chara? WTF? Hey, it was funny to me that he had his share that one season.), and anything else in comments. And check out their fight cards at HockeyFights.com if you want to delve deeper or find others I omitted.