The 2000 Oscar-winning film Gladiator may have had its shaky moments, but it did capture the love-hate relationship the Romans had with their fighters. The gladiators were social outcasts; intellectuals hated them, and women loved them. Some became famous, but most had brutally short careers.

Welcome to the NHL, where two millennia later, nothing has changed. The ongoing debate over fighting in hockey is between two sides who cannot possibly agree: the rational people (Ken Dryden, for example) who condemn the violence for what it is, and the emotional people (Don Cherry, for example) who see the violence as part of the game they love. Better a fistfight than a stick-swinging incident, the second camp insists.

It all boils down to how civilized you like your hockey. Of course it’s possible to legislate fighting almost completely out of the game; it’s about putting the puck in the net, not your fist in someone’s face. But would fewer people watch?

Hockey and fighting are synonymous and while there are it’s (fighting) detractors, there are others still who love a good bout.
Here then is our list of the top 10 NHL enforcers of all time:

1. Bob Probert
2. Dave Brown
3. Behn Wilson
4. Clark Gillies
5. Nick Fotiu
6. Bob Nystrom
7. Larry Playfair
8. John Kordic
9. Joey Kocur
10. Marty McSorley

I’ll leave you with a video tribute to Bob Probert’s fights.

Last winter, The Hockey News polled the league’s players on a wide variety of subjects. When asked who the most hated player in the league is, 66 percent of respondents cursed the name of Sean Avery. A far distant second was Jordin Tootoo at six percent, followed by Darcy Tucker at four percent.

You have to be one hell of a guy to be hated over 16 times as much as Darcy Tucker. Avery went undrafted out of the Ontario Hockey League; after parts of seven seasons with three different teams, the bruising left-winger has 50 goals in 322 games with 913 penalty minutes.

But Avery’s mouth is his most dangerous weapon. He’s offended just about everyone in the NHL at some point, including his own coaches, league officials and commentators. And all the while, he’s been dating the likes of Elisha Cuthbert and, according to TMZ, Mary-Kate Olsen. No wonder everyone hates him.

I’ll leave you with a video of the now classic Avery vs. Tucker fight.

What the heck’s going on here? Philadelphia, Carolina and Columbus are all kicking ass in the NHL. Anaheim, New Jersey and the Rangers are all sucking wind. What’s a hockey bettor to do?

Get used to it. This is life under the salary cap. NFL bettors know all about parity, how some teams can go from the penthouse to the outhouse and back again. The dynasties of old are no more, and non-traditional hockey markets like the Carolinas are winning Stanley Cups.

This may or may not be “wrong,” depending on your hockey worldview. But here’s what I don’t like about the league, and it’s the same problem with the NBA: that ugly corporate smell. It’s in their insipid marketing, their continuous expansion that robs the game of its quality level, and their unending grab of taxpayer money to finance new arenas. The ugly ownership mess surrounding the Predators speaks volumes. But it’s always been this way, hasn’t it?

And while we’re talking about what’s wrong with the NHL, how about a little something about what’s right- depending on whether you enjoy brutishness or not.  For you then, rafish hockey fan, some fist’a'cuffs on video.