Top 5 Worst Cheapshots in the Modern NHL
When we hear the word cheapshot, we all have an event that comes to mind. There are cheapshots every year in the NHL, but few leave a lasting legacy. Some, however, are so great they are never forgotten. For this list, I tried to keep things relatively recent. I did this for two reasons; one I wanted to make sure video of the event existed, and two, the NHL was wild back in the old days. There are some incredible stories out of the 50s and 60s about awful cheapshots that are hard to even imagine. Guys breaking sticks over opponent's helmetless heads, sucker punches that have almost killed people, and all kinds of other insane things. Of course, video of those events do not exist, and the only reason we know about them is from eyewitness accounts from people who were there, and newspaper clippings. For this list, I kept the events to within my lifetime. I was born in 1996. So here are my top 5 cheapshots in the modern NHL. This of course is all my opinion, but feel free to comment if you think I missed any.
5. Chris Simon baseball swing on Ryan Hollweg
This slash from 2007 is a cheapshot that I can clearly remember. Stick swinging has no place in the game of hockey, and this is an all-time cheapshot. Simon got hit from behind and was not happy, which is fine, but you absolutely cannot swing your stick like this, especially at someone's face. Fighting someone is fine, clubbing him with your stick is not. It's a damn shame the linesman got to Simon before Colton Orr did, because Simon deserved to get hit face rearranged and Orr would've done it. This was a disgraceful move by Chris Simon.
4. Tie Domi elbows Scott Niedermayer
This incident from the 2001 playoffs has been overshadowed by some other cheapshots, but is still one of the worst in history. Tie Domi delivered the most egregious elbow since Pat Quinn on Bobby Orr to Scott Niedermayer. Niedermayer was nowhere near the puck and had no idea a hit was coming. Nor should he think a hit was coming, the play was nowhere near him. A hit did come though, and it wasn't even really a hit; it was a blatant elbow right to Niedermayer's head. Niedermayer was knocked out cold and had to be stretchered off the ice. This is one of the worst plays in NHL history to this day.
3. Todd Bertuzzi attacks Steve Moore
I bet most of you thought this was going to be number one, well it's not. Yes this absolutely is one of the most disgusting plays in NHL history, but it's not the worst cheapshot ever. There is a massive backstory about this incident and I'm not going to go into it. There are plenty of YouTube videos explaining the whole Moore vs Vancouver thing and why this happened. I'm going to focus on the cheapshot itself. All of these cheapshots get exacerbated when the person receiving them is injured. In this case, Steve Moore suffered a broken neck among other injuries, and never played in the NHL again. Had Moore not suffered such gruesome injuries, this event would not be as noteworthy as it is. I understand you could say that for all of these events, but I don't think the cheapshot itself is deserving of number one on this list. Nonetheless, it is still one of the most brutal cheapshots in history, and certainly belongs in the top 3.
2. Matt Johnson sucker punches Jeff Beukeboom
This is without a doubt the worst sucker punch I have ever seen video of from the NHL. I have heard stories about punches from the 50s and 60s that could be worse than this, but there is no video of those events. This is way worse than Bertuzzi's punch on Moore. Matt Johnson just comes up behind Jeff Beukeboom, who has no idea he is even there, and knocks him out cold. This is one of the hardest punches I have ever seen. This essentially ended Beukeboom's career. He played a few more games after this, but was never the same. He retired not long after in 1999.
1. Marty McSorley clubs Donald Brashear
In my mind, this is the worst cheapshot I have ever seen in the NHL. I think stick swinging is the worst of the worst as far as cheapshots go, and this is the most infamous stick swinging incident in recent memory. Brashear had already fought McSorley in this game, and didn't feel the need to fight him again. So what does McSorley do? He clubs Brashear in the head with his stick knocking him unconscious. I have never seen anything like this in the NHL. There have been plenty of dirty hits, plenty of sucker punches, hell even plenty of stick swings. But nothing like this. McSorley hits Brashear's head like he's trying to hit a home run at Fenway Park. Just brutal. This ended up being McSorley's last game in the NHL and rightly so. Just a brutal cheapshot, the worst in my opinion.
