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Fear is a natural part of being human. It has multiple purposes, and generally leaves us with one of three responses: fight, flight or freeze.
From an evolutionary standpoint, one could argue that fear is why we’re all here in the first place. Our ancestors were afraid of the right things at the right times, and through luck or guile or a mix of both, were able to pass on their genes through reproduction.
You probably didn’t come here to wax poetic about fear and its role in human life. You came here to talk hockey.
The game itself isn’t a life-or-death sport and the NHL isn’t a life-or-death league. Still, turn on any game on any given night, and you can find players or situations that can (and do) trigger a fear-driven response. One of the Three Fs that are listed above.
Watch during warmups, and odds are good that you’ll see a fan down near the glass who hasn’t been that close to the action before. A player rips a shot that misses the net and catches the glass, and the impact will scare said fan.
It’s an understandable response. It’s a predictable one too.
Looking across the league, which players are capable of generating their own kind of fear? It doesn’t have to necessarily physical either. Let’s take a look, and if we missed anyone, we’d love to hear your arguments down in the comments section.
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We’ll start off with perhaps the most obvious example of a fear-inducing player with Zdeno Chara. He wouldn’t be considered big in just about any other sport, but in pro hockey, he’s the tallest player ever at 6-foot-9.
Sometimes a skater can frustrate fans because they don’t use their size. Patrik Laine of the Columbus Blue Jackets is listed at 6-foot-5, and no one is going to get him confused with a power forward like Alex Ovechkin (spoiler: more on him later).
Chara knows how to impose his will onto others with his height and weight, and Hockey Gods save you if he decides to throw the gloves and punch you in the face. Moreover, the 44-year-old is one of the most grizzled and respected leaders in the league.
He captained the Boston Bruins a Stanley Cup victory in 2011, is a seven-time All-Star and knows when to use his size and when to let things slide. Oh, did we mention that he can shoot the puck really, really hard too?
Yeah, “Big Z” is as intimidating as they come in the NHL.
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Alex Ovechkin might be the most unique hockey player in NHL history. His blend of skill, speed, aggression and finishing ability is second to none, and it has allowed him to begin chasing what was once considered an unbreakable record.
Anyone chasing down any of Wayne Gretzky’s offensive records is going to be scary for that reason alone. “The Great 8” is intimidating for a handful of reasons, though.
For starters, that one-timer. It’s a recoil-inducing impact that he’s been blowing by goalies during Washington Capitals’ power plays since 2005. Opposing defenders, goalies and coaches all know that Ovechkin is going to post up in the left circle.
They all know the pass is coming, yet in 16 seasons, no one has figured out how to stop it. He’s scored more than 270 power-play goals and is showing zero signs of slowing down.
Ovechkin is also one of the league’s most prolific hitters. While he doesn’t throw his body around like he used to, the 36-year-old can still flatten opponents if they aren’t paying attention while skating through the neutral zone.
If you could build an offensive dynamo in a lab, he’d come out looking like Ovechkin. We can’t wait to see if he can catch and break Gretzky’s goal-scoring record in the coming seasons.
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Here is a player who is absolutely zero fun to play against. If you’re a top-line forward on an Eastern Conference team, you’re going to be seeing a lot of Aleksander Barkov whenever you play the Florida Panthers.
He’s a do-it-all center who never takes penalties despite always being tasked with slowing down the opposition’s best players. Barkov, like Chara, also knows how and when to use his imposing frame to lean on (and wear down) other skaters.
Standing at 6-foot-3 and weighing in at more than 215 pounds, there aren’t many players in the NHL that can withstand a nightly dose of Barkov. His Panthers appear to be a Team of Destiny this season, and the road to the Stanley Cup could very well lead through Florida (be it against the Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning).
Barkov is in the middle of all of that, mixing offensive skill with defensive responsibility and a knack for getting under other players’ skin. He might not be on casual fans’ radars as an intimidating force, but we think that’ll change as 2021-22 rolls on.
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If you’re a No. 1 defenseman, top-line center or starting goalie and the Edmonton Oilers are in town, you know you’re going to be asked to slow down Connor McDavid. And it’s slow down because there really aren’t many ways to stop him without taking a penalty.
He’s won three scoring titles and is a threat to win another one this season, and he’s done it due to his ability to slice through defenses like a knife through hot butter. Even when it doesn’t look like there’s anywhere for McDavid to go, he finds a seam for himself and the puck.
Suddenly he’s through three or four defenders and is celebrating a goal with his trademark fist pump.
How?
That’s the question you end up asking yourself half the time when you see McDavid’s goals and assists. He’s a human highlight reel in the purest of forms, and is worth the price of admission alone. It’s tragic that his Oilers haven’t managed to do much damage in the playoffs, but during the regular season, he’s nearly unstoppable.
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We’re going to stick with players who are so skilled their scary for another beat here.
Like McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon makes things happen because he’s just faster than nearly every other player in the NHL. There are a lot of quick skaters in the NHL, though, and even more of them outside of it because just having wheels for days doesn’t make you a good hockey player.
No, what makes these kinds of forwards special is how fast they can process what’s going on around them. Anyone can learn to skate hard in a straight line; MacKinnon is unique because of what he’s able to do with the puck while operating in his top gear.
Just when you think there’s no where for him to go, he finds a way through. MacKinnon is the driving force behind one of the NHL’s very best lines. And the Colorado Avalanche are among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season because of the skill and intensity he brings to the ice every night.
If anyone in the league has a Mamba Mentality, it’s MacKinnon.
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Players who are only in the NHL to fight have, thankfully, almost entirely gone the way of the dinosaur. The best teams in the league find value in those margins. Anyone trying to compete with the Lightning, Avalanche or any of the other powerhouses can’t afford to roster someone who only plays five minutes a night while spending 10 in the penalty box after fighting.
Ryan Reaves is a bit of an exception to that rule. Of course, he’s primarily known for his ability to square up with the best of them. He’s dropped the gloves more than 70 times during his 12-year career, fighting some of the league’s scariest skaters along the way.
Yet during his time with the Vegas Golden Knights, Reaves emerged as a legitimately marketable player. He’s one of the games’ biggest and best personalities, which is another reason why the New York Rangers sought him out this offseason.
Reaves is a special kind of fourth liner, and deserves a place on any list such as this one, despite being largely likable off the ice.
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When it comes to Brad Marchand, you either love him or you dislike him. Or, rather: either you’re a fan of the Boston Bruins or cheer for one of the NHL’s other 31 franchises.
Early on in his career, the wing was largely considered one of the league’s most effective pests. He has a knack for getting under the skin of opposing players, drawing penalties and throwing opposing stars off of their games in the process.
Marchand has, over time, emerged as a legit high-end talent for the B’s, though. Which makes him even more frustrating to play against. Here’s a forward who will goad you into punching him in the face during a scrum, draw the roughing penalty and then score on the ensuing power play.
There simply aren’t a lot of players in the game these days who are capable of combining that particular group of talents. Over the last three seasons, only four players have a better points per game average than Marchand, according to Stathead.com.
And no one who is even remotely close to him is as annoying to play against.
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Andrei Vasilevskiy has been oddly average so far in 2021-22, but a small sample size doesn’t knock him off of his perch as the NHL’s best goalie.
NHL.com ranked him as the top netminder in fantasy hockey. TheHockeyWriters.com listed him as the best starter ahead of the season. ESPN.com canvassed a handful of sources around the NHL, and they established that “Vas” is the best at his position. Over at The Athletic, an anonymous panel of general managers and coaches ranked him as the best goalie in the league, with some arguing that he should be in a tier by himself.
Perhaps the scariest thing about Vasilevskiy is how almost everyone around the game seems to agree in their assessment of him. Folks love to argue, especially when it comes to sports. It brings out our tribalistic natures.
With the Lightning netminder, though, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of discourse, and with good reason. He’s been a Vezina Trophy finalist in four consecutive seasons, winning it in 2018-19 and is coming off of back-to-back Stanley Cups with Tampa.
If that doesn’t scare you as an opposing player, nothing will.
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If it moves, hit it.
That has been Radko Gudas’ mantra since entering the NHL in 2012 as a 22-year-old wrecking ball. This visualization from Statmuse.com illustrates just how much more frequently the Florida Panthers defenseman hits compared to everyone else in the NHL.
Perhaps most impressive is that the defenseman generally manages to keep his contact pretty clean. He’s only been suspended once for a hit during his career, and that came in December of 2015. He’s a player who has crossed the line in other ways, to be sure.
But in terms of raw hitting, Gudas is the Connor McDacvid of physical play. He’s not going to play the most important minutes for Florida, but he’s on the roster for a reason. The Panthers ice a handful of players who are capable of wearing opposing skaters out over a seven-game series.
Gudas is arguably chief among them.
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Now we arrive at our poster boy, Tom Wilson.
He’s probably the only player in the league to draw a stronger reaction than Marchand, and was found to be the most despised player on social media in July. The process was interesting to say the least, and you don’t have to agree with how that conclusion was reached.
However, not many folks are going to argue with that outcome.
Wilson’s blend of aggression, which frequently boils over, and skill makes him one of the scariest players in the league today. He’s sent not one, but two teams back to the drawing board with his brand of physicality and finishing ability.
There is no denying that Wilson has skated up to and crossed The Line multiple times in his career. And we aren’t saying that his misdeeds should be celebrated. They need to be acknowledged, however. Wilson is so effective at his job that two NHL franchises have altered their rosters to try and counter him.
You don’t see organization’s shifting philosophies to try and prevent Ovechkin or McDavid from scoring like they do, which makes that fact all the more noteworthy.
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