Who do you think of when the term "dirty player" comes up? Maybe a pest like Sean Avery, or perhaps a guy with a noted history for knocking people in the head like Matt Cooke.
How about Mattias Ohlund, veteran defenseman of the Tampa Bay Lightning? Or what about Dan Boyle, an Olympian whose worst highlight reel moment isn't a dirty hit but passing the puck into his own net during the playoffs. Probably not, right? Yet, when you break it down by type of penalties, some unlikely names have been associated with the dirtier types of penalties in the game.
What's considered a dirty penalty? I'd break it down into boarding, charging, checking from behind, clipping, elbowing, and kneeing. A basic roughing penalty doesn't really count because that can mean a lot of things, and crosschecks happen way more than are called -- and by every player in the game, when you think about it.
So based on those penalties, here's a list of who's gotten called for at least two dirty hits in this young season. Some of the names might surprise you.
(All numbers courtesy of the cool penalty tracker at CBS Sports.)
| Player | Team | Pos | GP | Board | Charge | Behind | Clip | Elbow | Knee | Sum |
| John Erskine | WAS | D | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Mattias Ohlund | TB | D | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Kevin Bieksa | VAN | D | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Dan Boyle | SJ | D | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Cody McLeod | COL | LW | 23 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Matt Cooke | PIT | LW | 25 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Matt Martin | NYI | LW | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Steve Bernier | FLA | RW | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Martin Hanzal | PHO | C | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Trent Hunter | NYI | RW | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Sauer | NYR | D | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Johan Franzen | DET | LW | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Niclas Wallin | SJ | D | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jamie McGinn | SJ | LW | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Brad Staubitz | MIN | RW | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| David Backes | STL | C | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Andrew Cogliano | EDM | C | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Nicklas Grossman | DAL | D | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Zenon Konopka | NYI | C | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Dany Heatley | SJ | RW | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Eric Nystrom | MIN | LW | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tim Jackman | CGY | RW | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Maxim Lapierre | MON | RW | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Travis Moen | MON | LW | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Andrei Kostitsyn | MON | RW | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Cody McCormick | BUF | RW | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Rupp | PIT | LW | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | WAS | C | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tomas Kopecky | CHI | C | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Darroll Powe | PHI | LW | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Ok, so counts of three or four aren't really that much in the big scheme of things. However, when you think about how rarely a dirty penalty is called, it is kind of surprising to see who has received the most. Some of it is circumstance, some of it is carelessness, and some of it just comes down to a player not being the most gentlemanly of sorts.
Coming up after the jump, a look at restraining and interference calls, diving, and the always-popular fighting.
Restraining calls (hooking, holding, etc.) are obviously the most common in the NHL. These numbers aren't nearly as low as the dirty-hit calls, so what I've done here is average it out into penalties per game. I've removed any players that have played less than 10 games and sorted it by average. The top 20 are listed below.
| Player | Team | Pos | GP | Hold | HoldStick | Hook | GoalInt | Int | Trip | Sum | Average |
| Clayton Stoner | MIN | D | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0.454545 |
| Danny Briere | PHI | C | 22 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0.454545 |
| Marek Zidlicky | MIN | D | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0.4375 |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | PHO | D | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0.4 |
| Braydon Coburn | PHI | D | 25 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 0.4 |
| Pascal Dupuis | PIT | RW | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 0.375 |
| Chris Kelly | OTT | C | 24 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0.375 |
| Kyle Cumiskey | COL | D | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.363636 |
| Jack Hillen | NYI | D | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0.363636 |
| Erik Karlsson | OTT | D | 22 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0.363636 |
| Alexander Semin | WAS | LW | 25 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 0.36 |
| Cory Sarich | CGY | D | 17 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0.352941 |
| Adrian Aucoin | PHO | D | 20 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0.35 |
| Brent Burns | MIN | D | 20 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0.35 |
| Marian Gaborik | NYR | RW | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.333333 |
| Kyle Quincey | COL | D | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0.333333 |
| Marian Hossa | CHI | RW | 21 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 0.333333 |
| Ruslan Salei | DET | D | 21 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0.333333 |
| Stephen Weiss | FLA | C | 21 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0.333333 |
| Tom Gilbert | EDM | D | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 0.318182 |
First off, it's not too surprising to see the majority of these players are defensemen -- if you're trying to prevent a goal, chances are you're more likely to take one of these restraining penalties. However, what's up with Danny Briere? He's basically on pace to take one bonehead penalty every other game, and if you look at his PIM totals so far this season, he's got 43 in 22 games. Maybe he's just angry everyone started calling him Danny instead of Daniel.
On the other side of things, diving calls aren't something to be proud of, no matter what league you play in. Here are the few, the very unproud, the noted divers in the NHL this season.
| Player | Team | Pos |
| Craig Anderson | COL | G |
| Jared Boll | CLB | RW |
| Maxim Lapierre | MON | RW |
| Henrik Lundqvist | NYR | G |
| Dominic Moore | TB | C |
| Tuomo Ruutu | CAR | C |
| Jarkko Ruutu | OTT | LW |
| Devin Setoguchi | SJ | RW |
| Niclas Wallin | SJ | D |
What's more surprising, two guys from the San Jose Sharks, two goalies in there, or two guys named Ruutu in there?
Finally, here are the penalties everyone loves. Yes, it's everyone with four or more fighting majors.
| Player | Team | Pos | GP | Fight |
| Brandon Prust | NYR | RW | 25 | 9 |
| Zenon Konopka | NYI | C | 22 | 8 |
| George Parros | ANA | RW | 24 | 8 |
| Deryk Engelland | PIT | D | 21 | 7 |
| Tim Jackman | CGY | RW | 23 | 7 |
| Mike Brown | TOR | LW | 21 | 6 |
| Ryane Clowe | SJ | RW | 22 | 6 |
| B.J. Crombeen | STL | RW | 22 | 6 |
| Jamal Mayers | SJ | C | 18 | 6 |
| Cody McCormick | BUF | RW | 24 | 6 |
| Chris Neil | OTT | RW | 24 | 6 |
| Derek Boogaard | NYR | LW | 18 | 5 |
| Daniel Carcillo | PHI | LW | 15 | 5 |
| Matt Carkner | OTT | D | 23 | 5 |
| Derek Dorsett | CLB | RW | 21 | 5 |
| Matt Hendricks | WAS | C | 24 | 5 |
| Cody McLeod | COL | LW | 23 | 5 |
| Colton Orr | TOR | RW | 22 | 5 |
| Jody Shelley | PHI | LW | 25 | 5 |
| Kevin Westgarth | LA | RW | 18 | 5 |
| Brad Winchester | STL | LW | 17 | 5 |
| Sean Avery | NYR | LW | 25 | 4 |
| Jared Boll | CLB | RW | 16 | 4 |
| Sheldon Brookbank | ANA | D | 18 | 4 |
| David Clarkson | NJ | C | 24 | 4 |
| Jake Dowell | CHI | C | 26 | 4 |
| Frazer McLaren | SJ | LW | 9 | 4 |
| Brad Staubitz | MIN | RW | 21 | 4 |
| Zack Stortini | EDM | RW | 15 | 4 |
| Brian Sutherby | DAL | C | 16 | 4 |
| Shawn Thornton | BOS | RW | 22 | 4 |
Here's to you, Brandon Prust of the New York Rangers -- you're on pace for about 35 fighting majors this year? And unlike his goon brethren, Prust is actually a versatile forward with six points in 25 games and time on the penalty kill. Statistically speaking, Ryane Clowe of the Sharks is the best player among the fighting leaders, and considering the inconsistency Todd McLellan's team has faced so far, maybe he should keep his gloves on and let some of the rookies do the scrapping.
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