09-20-2022, 11:53 PM(This post was last modified: 09-22-2022, 10:43 PM by CptSquall. Edited 1 time in total.)
Just like in the NHL the SHL the game is changing and with the removal of individual sliders and no more testing it reminded me of how much the game of hockey can and is changing in both sim league and real life. This combined with the fact the Forge had just drafted a user in Juni, which previous player was one of the best enforcers in the league made me curious about all the previous tough guys in the league as well. So lets take a deep dive into the top enforcers of the FHM era.
So firstly lets take a look at what it means to be an enforcer. Being a tough guy obviously fights comes up right away. So we will include fights and fights won. Next you want to make your presence known on the ice so hitting. We have to include that, and while we are at it PIMS will be added on as you are typically known for racking those up when you are playing on the edge.
So lets take a look at the top players per season and then do a comparison of them to decide who is the last of the great enforcers.
Right away the first thing I noticed is there is not many fights happening in the FHM era. The most anyone seemed to be in was 1 or 2 fights. Hits were a lot higher then I originally expected especially considering we were still only playing 50 games per season.
It is also worth noting that Smeb and Manius both put up over 50 points this season which instantly makes them even more effective as not only are they punishing on the ice but on the scoreboard as well.
This is were the transition seemed to really start as we saw less and less hits happening in the games and once again very few fights across the league. Smeb started to emerge as a tough guy that was able to put up some points as well.
This was a tough hard fought season with each of these tough guys getting into multiple fights. Smyth came out of no where looking to prove he was the toughest guy in the league.
We are starting to see the trend of guys throwing their weight around. Luc-Pierre had an incredible year almost breaking 400 hits in the first season with 66 games played. Smyth also did not lose any of the 3 fights he was in, claiming the toughest guy on the ice for the season.
In the first of the FHM era we had a clear runaway train throwing his body around adding over 400 hits and over 100 more then the next closest person Smyth was once again making his presence felt on the ice. With the addition of extra games it appeared he was a little sluggish though dropping the gloves losing 4 fights on the course of the season.
S59-
Boris Poroshenko 404 hits, 0 fights, 120 PIMS
Jakob Hamr 225 hits, 0 fights, 50 PIMS
Lyle Odelein III 212 hits, 0 fights won, 1 fight lost, 27 PIMS
It is worth noting that his is the season Smyth finally dropped off. He narrowly missed the cut with 208 hits on the season and was still 2nd in PIMS with 73. Boris seemed to take over the role of the top enforcer of the league at this point in the season while playing for Calgary. The other thing from this season is the amount of hitting seemed to drop right after Boris who had 47 more penalty minutes than the next person.
In comes Juni Panda out of nowhere. I will say he is actually the reason I started this train of thought and was curious about the how much of an impact he has made around the league and how many times he was the hit leader. I was surprised to find he also fought 7 times this season. Setting a new record of 525 hits which totally eclipsed anything we had seen in the league before is something incredible as well.
Juni once again blew everyone else out of the water spending enough time in the penalty box to last over 3 games. That is crazy considering the next closet PIM leader was at 99 PIMS. Juni also eclipsed the next closet hit leader by 200 hits. Which just seems like one of the craziest stats I have seen so far in these records.
There must have been a message being sent in the Nola locker room this season as both Malik and Boyle both played for them, Zidane also of Nola made the top 10 in hits as well for the season it was clear that Nola went out to get tougher this year but it also cost them as they have 3 of the top 4 PIMS for individual players on the year who were only beaten out by Juni Panda.
These three are starting a trend of separating themselves from the rest of the league as some of the toughest guys on the ice. When stopping at this point I will leave it for the users to make the decision on who they think is the toughest.
In my opinion it still has to be Juni Panda he is up there with hits every season he seems to really make an impact with the fighting he is one of the only guys that has won multiple fights over multiple seasons at this point.
KaleSalad
![[Image: CaleSalad.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/CaleSalad.gif)
![[Image: kalesaladshl.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/kalesaladshl.gif)
![[Image: CptSquall.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/CptSquall.gif)
