>darius KASPARAITIS

THE ONLY DEFENSEMAN

and non-Canadian on this list, Kasparaitis once responded to a loss in the World Junior Championship by skating up to his own goalie and punching him in the head. Kasparaitis was not only one of the hardest hitters in the league when he played, but he was also one of the dirtiest and most fearless. He certainly didn’t pick his spots, going after star players, which usually forced him to have to answer to a good number of enforcers. His thunderous hit on Eric Lindros in 1998 knocked Lindros out for 18 games and contributed greatly to his well-documented concussion problems. But Kasparaitis endured as much as he dished out, as evidenced by the many injuries that kept him out of the lineup and just as many through which he played.