Top 10 Rangers tough guys of all time

Matt Rempe was a fan favorite from the moment he dropped the gloves and brawled with Islanders enforcer Matt Martin in his NHL debut in the Stadium Series outdoor game between the Rangers and Islanders at MetLife Stadium in February 2024.

The rookie fought three times in his first five NHL games, and Rangers fans loved it. Rempe, who is listed at 6-9, 261 pounds, got big cheers every time he jumped over the boards, and his No. 73 jersey quickly became one of the top sellers among the faithful.

NHL enforcers generally don’t score tons of goals, and in some cases, they don’t even play that much. But their willingness and ability to fight is appreciated by their teammates and fans alike.

In their 100-year history, the Rangers haven’t always been the toughest of teams, but they’ve certainly had a few well-respected enforcers over the years. Here is a very subjective list of the top 10 tough guys in Blueshirts history:

10. GEORGE McPHEE

Extremely undersized for a tough guy at 5-9 and 174 pounds, he played in only 115 NHL games in parts of six seasons. But he fought some of the toughest guys in the league, and in his second season with the Rangers (1984-85), McPhee scored 12 goals and had 139 penalty minutes in 49 games.

9. REG FLEMING

Another undersized guy at 5-8, 170, the enforcer for the Emile Francis Rangers played for six NHL teams and was on the Stanley Cup-winning 1961 Chicago team. Traded to the Rangers by Boston midway through the 1965-66 season, he played 3 1⁄2 of his 12 NHL seasons for the Blueshirts, scoring 50 of his 108 career goals and accumulating 540 of his career 1,470 penalty minutes in 241 games.

8. JEFF BEUKEBOOM

He was Brian Leetch’s defense partner, but the 6-5, 230-pound Beukeboom also served as Leetch’s personal protector from opposing teams wanting to take liberties with the Rangers’ star defenseman. He had more than 150 penalty minutes in each of his seven full seasons with the Blueshirts except for his final season (1998-99), including a career-high 220 in 1995-96. He ranks second in team history in penalty minutes (1,157).

7. IVAN ‘CHING’ JOHNSON

The Hockey Hall of Famer was an original Ranger, playing for the Blueshirts in their inaugural season in 1926-27, and helped them win their first Stanley Cup in 1928. A hard-checking defenseman, he was second in the NHL in penalty minutes in 1927-28 and was a four-time All-Star who played 10 seasons for the Rangers and one for the New York Americans. He had 38 goals and 808 penalty minutes in 436 NHL games.

6. NICK FOTIU

The local guy from Staten Island was undrafted, but the Rangers signed him out of the World Hockey Association. He played 13 years in the NHL, the first three — and 7 1⁄2 of the first nine — with the Rangers. He was always willing to fight and was a huge fan favorite. He was

the first New York City-born player to play for the Rangers.

5. COLTON ORR

Claimed off waivers from Boston in the 2005-06 season, the 6-3, 222-pound winger developed into a devastating fighter in 3 1⁄2 seasons with the Rangers before signing with Toronto as a free agent in 2009. He had four goals and 522 penalty minutes in 224 games with the Rangers.

4. DARREN LANGDON

The Rangers signed the 6-1, 205-pounder as an undrafted free agent in 1992, and after three years in the minors, he finally made his NHL debut in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. He played five-plus of his 11 NHL seasons with the Rangers and had 16 goals and 1,251 penalty minutes in 521 games.

3. TIE DOMI

A second-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 1988, he was one of the most popular players on the Rangers in the early 1990s. Generously listed at 5-10 and 213 pounds, he fought all the big names in a 16-year career that spanned 1,020 games. He is the all-time NHL leader in fights (with 333) and has the third-most penalty minutes (3,515). Most of that was done with the Maple Leafs, though. He played parts of three seasons with the Rangers, and in 1990-91, he had 185 penalty minutes in 28 games. The next season, he had 246 minutes in 42 games.

2. JOEY KOCUR

A devastating puncher, he was one of the most feared fighters of the 1980s and ’90s and was one-half of the “Bruise Brothers” in Detroit along with Bob Probert. The Rangers acquired him from the Red Wings at the trade deadline in 1991. He played parts of six seasons on Broadway, including being part of the 1994 Stanley Cup championship team. (He later won Cups in ’97 and ’98 with Detroit.) His fame and most of his exploits originated in Detroit; he didn’t fight nearly as often for the Rangers.

1. LOU FONTINATO

Wikipedia calls him “a rugged defender and the most feared enforcer of his time.’’ He began his career with the Rangers in the 1954-55 season and led the NHL in penalty minutes the following year with 202, becoming the first player to amass more than 200 penalty minutes in a season. He led the league in penalty minutes three times and had a running feud with Gordie Howe, who famously broke his nose and dislocated his jaw in a fight in 1959. He played seven seasons with the Rangers before being traded for Hall of Fame defenseman Doug Harvey before the 1961-62 season.

Honorable mentions: Chris Nilan, Ryan Reaves, Dale Purinton, Brandon Prust, Adam Graves, Jay Wells, Kris King, Troy Mallette, Ed Hospodar, Rudy Poeschek.