A few weeks ago I wrote a similar article on the top fighters in the Atlantic Division which I looked at in two parts. The first part of the Atlantic division covered the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs, while part two focused on The Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and the Detroit Red Wings. This time around I will cover the Metropolitan Division. Part one will include the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes. Part two will include the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Washington Capitals, The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It will be interesting to see how these key players who I have picked will play this upcoming season, how many fights they will record and to see if they will still be on top of the fight chart by the end of the 2013-2014 season.
The first team to start us off will be the New York Rangers. The fighter who I picked for the Rangers is Arron Asham. Some other teams he played on have been the Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and now the New York Rangers.
Asham recorded six fights during the regular 2012-2013 season. His first fight was against Tanner Glass from the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 20 and again later on April 3. He also recorded fights with Mike Brown from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Eric Boulton from the New York Islanders, Jay Rosehill from the Philadelphia Flyers and George Parros from the Florida Panthers.
I can see the 35 year old being on the top of the fighters list again this season. In previous seasons he has recorded anywhere from six to 17 fights. I can see him being a top fighter again this season along with Stu Bickel and Derek Dorsett.
Up next I picked Matt Martin from the New York Islanders. He has always been a big fighter whether it was the OHL, AHL or NHL. In the OHL he recorded anywhere from four to 11 fights, the AHL anywhere from one to 12 fights and the NHL anywhere from one to 15 fights.
During the past shortened season Martin recorded seven NHL fights. His first fight was against Tampa Bay’s top fighter BJ Crombeen on the 21st on January. He also fought with Tanner Glass from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The next two fights that Martin recorded were on the same day, against Braydon Coburn and Wayne Simmonds from the Philadelphia Flyers. The three other players who complete Martin’s fight record during the shortened season was Craig Adams from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Tom Kostopoulos from the New Jersey Devils and Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers.
He has always been a strong fighter no matter what level or team he played for and this season I can see him being back on top fighting against some of the top fighters.
The next fighter I picked is from the Carolina Hurricanes. This fighter is Kevin Westgarth. In the AHL he has recorded up to 25 fights and in the NHL the highest fights he recorded was seven during this shortened season. Westgarth went up against three of the top eight fighters in the Atlantic division: Colton Orr of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Eric Selleck from the Florida Panthers and Shawn Thornton of the Boston Bruins. He also took on Frazer McLaren twice from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Deryk Engelland from the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jared Cowen from the Ottawa Senators.
Kevin Westgarth is a key fighter for the Carolina Hurricanes. I can see him being back on top during the upcoming season along with Jay Harrison who only recorded three fights during this shortened season.
The final fighter and team for part one is Krys Barch from the New Jersey Devils. It would have been a tie between him and David Clarkson but Clarkson signed a seven year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Barch’s first fight as a Devil (he previously played for the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers) was against the Boston Bruins top fighter Shawn Thornton. Up next on the 31st of January and third of February was against Eric Boulton and Matt Carkner from the New York Islanders. Also to add to Barch’s fight record was Deryk Engelland from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Anthony Peluso from the Winnipeg Jets and Pierre-Cedric Labrie from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Though Barch was tied with Clarkson for the top fighter last season I am not sure who will be on top during this upcoming season. Barch may be but I think we will see some new blood also rising up to the fighter side. We will just have to see this season what will happen.
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