Current NHL Hit Leaders (Top 50)

[Sempiternal]

This thread is inspired from a Fantasy Hockey perspective and while there are some obvious names in the Top 50 like Ryan Reaves, Tom Wilson, Matt Martin, etc. there are quite a few surprises for me.

I think this is one of those 'intangible' stats people jokingly reference when talking a players worth, but I really do think it influences the value of a player. It shows that they play an intense game and are unsung warriors.

A few names I want to highlight as surprises or players who I think are undervalued and perhaps people want to talk about:
- Brady Tkachuk - Wow!
- Mark Borowiecki - Hell of a season thus far!
- Neal Pionk - A LOT of people are eating crow on this trade.
- Darnell Nurse - Gets little to no respect from many whiny Oilers fans.
- Jeff Petry - Several Oilers fans couldn't wait for this guy to leave... hmm.
- Timo Meier - One of the most underrated forwards in the game.
- Joel Armia - Didn't expect to see him on this list.

Comments? Anyone you want to give a shout-out in the hit department?

PLAYER	GP	H
1 Reaves, Ryan VGK	57	239
2 Tkachuk, Brady OTT	55	222
3 Tanev, Brandon PIT	54	198
4 Wilson, Tom WSH	54	191
5 Borowiecki, Mark OTT	52	190
6 Martin, Matt NYI	41	185
7 Carrier, William VGK	57	171
8 Foligno, Nick CBJ	53	170
9 Ristolainen, Rasmus BUF	56	168
10 Dillon, Brenden SJ	55	167
11 McNabb, Brayden VGK	57	166
12 Crouse, Lawson ARI	53	163
13 Wagner, Chris BOS	55	156
13 Coleman, Blake NJ	54	156
13 Rowney, Carter ANA	56	156
16 Lucic, Milan CGY	54	153
17 Foligno, Marcus MIN	45	149
17 Hathaway, Garnet WSH	52	149
19 Gudas, Radko WSH	55	147
20 Paquette, Cedric TB	47	145
21 Petry, Jeff MTL	57	144
22 Ovechkin, Alex WSH	54	143
23 Zadorov, Nikita COL	50	142
24 Johnson, Jack PIT	52	141
25 Benn, Jamie DAL	55	140
26 Pionk, Neal WPG	57	136
27 Kassian, Zack EDM	50	133
28 Lowry, Adam WPG	47	132
29 Trouba, Jacob NYR	54	131
30 Nurse, Darnell EDM	55	129
30 Bitetto, Anthony WPG	46	129
30 Meier, Timo SJ	55	129
33 Cizikas, Casey NYI	46	127
33 Aston-Reese, Zachary PIT	54	127
35 Archibald, Josh EDM	46	126
36 Goodrow, Barclay SJ	55	125
37 Glendening, Luke DET	46	124
37 Erne, Adam DET	48	124
39 Chiarot, Ben MTL	55	123
40 Oleksiak, Jamie DAL	55	122
40 Wagner, Austin LA	52	122
42 Cernak, Erik TB	52	121
43 Fischer, Christian ARI	48	120
44 Simmonds, Wayne NJ	54	118
45 Staal, Jordan CAR	55	116
45 Clutterbuck, Cal NYI	33	116
45 Armia, Joel MTL	44	116
45 Kuraly, Sean BOS	56	116
49 Kane, Evander SJ	52	115
49 Lemieux, Brendan NYR	43	115
50 Barbashev, Ivan STL	54	115

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

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[sebsisles]

love how Clutterbuck is still in the top 50 with only 33 games played

 

[Wayne Primeau]

Nice to see Lucic near the top.

 

[Aceboogie]

Alot of players with next to zero impact on the game. great case to, again, show how useless the hit stat is

 

[heysmilinstrange]

Everyone said the Penguins signed Tanev for too long and too much money, but actually he was signed for not nearly enough money or years. Tanev forever. Tanev über alles.

 

[Sempiternal]

Alot of players with next to zero impact on the game. great case to, again, show how useless the hit stat is

How can you tell though? A hit can stop an upcoming goal or create a turnover, but that player doesn't necessarily get a point. It can also create space for more skilled players.

Also, we have seen that these players become more valuable in the playoffs while some skilled players like Johnny Gaudeau disappear.

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

shoutout to Erik Cernak

 

[bert]

Alot of players with next to zero impact on the game. great case to, again, show how useless the hit stat is

Yeah those St Louis Blues and Washington Capitals really have it all wrong.

 

[Sempiternal]

shoutout to Erik Cernak

Cedric Paquette as well.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

God is Zadorov

 

[TanguaySauce]

Surprised to see a 5'11'' guy like Blake Coleman on this list but very happy. I love the way he plays the game.

 

[TheGoldenGod]

For fantasy purposes, an overlooked player not on this list - Sammy Blais.

96 hits in 26 games this year and he just returned from injury. Before that, he was on pace for 302 hits this season (192 in 56 games - which would've placed him 4th on this list).

Blais hits with power and was a tank during the post season last year. Plus he can play, so he will spend time in the top 6. Has some very nice hands/puck skills. Promising young player.

 

[Svencouver]

A lot of WSH on that list

 

[Sheppy]

I feel like Reaves puts so much into his hits, it's pretty impressive that he has that many and they're usually, 9/10 times very heavy.

 

[pabst blue ribbon]

Yeah those St Louis Blues and Washington Capitals really have it all wrong.

The Blues ranked 24th in Hits during the 18-19 regular season and ranked 13th in hits on a per minute basis in the playoffs
The Capitals ranked 14th in Hits during the 17-18 regular season and ranked 5th in hits on a per minute basis in the playoffs

Pretty weird examples of torchbearers for this stat

 

[Sempiternal]

The Blues ranked 24th in Hits during the 18-19 regular season and ranked 13th in hits on a per minute basis in the playoffs
The Capitals ranked 14th in Hits during the 17-18 regular season and ranked 5th in hits on a per minute basis in the playoffs

Pretty weird examples of torchbearers for this stat

Every Sammy Blais hit should've counted as 2 hits though lol

 

[bert]

The Blues ranked 24th in Hits during the 18-19 regular season and ranked 13th in hits on a per minute basis in the playoffs
The Capitals ranked 14th in Hits during the 17-18 regular season and ranked 5th in hits on a per minute basis in the playoffs

Pretty weird examples of torchbearers for this stat

Do you believe that those teams dont play a more physical brand of hockey than most teams in the NHL?

 

[pabst blue ribbon]

Do you believe that those teams dont play a more physical brand of hockey than most teams in the NHL?

You responded to a guy saying hits are a bad stat by citing STL an Washington as counter examples even though neither team stands out in the hit total numbers. It's not about Washington or St. Louis playing a physical game or not, it's you claiming that it's a good stat by using teams who didn't amass large hit totals

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Everyone said the Penguins signed Tanev for too long and too much money, but actually he was signed for not nearly enough money or years. Tanev forever. Tanev über alles.

He's turned out to be such a good signing. His contract was laughed at in the summer, but at this point I don't care. He's exactly what the Pens needed.

 

[M2Beezy]

Didnt know Tanevs brother was such a hitter to be near the top of the list, total opposite of the Tan Man who generally receives a ton a hits lol, tho has done a better job this season of avoiding the hits

Lots of hitters from both Ottawa and teams like Washington and Las Vegas so make of it what ya will

 

[mrv52]

Alot of players with next to zero impact on the game. great case to, again, show how useless the hit stat is

Chuckle.

I would add something with substance but........

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

The Pens game had mentioned this the other night and I was surprised to see Tanev in #3. He doesnt lay out devastating hits but he hits often.

 

[The Professional]

Thinking that hits are useless stats that has no value is such a laughable take but I'm not surprised a lot of hf boarders think this way. So many arm chair warriors. Accchhhually, hItS hAvE nO iMpAcT oN tHe gAmE. Ok buds.. There's 31 coaches that would take at least one of these guys on their team any day.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Thinking that hits are useless stats that has no value is such a laughable take but I'm not surprised a lot of hf boarders think this way. So many arm chair warriors. Accchhhually, hItS hAvE nO iMpAcT oN tHe gAmE. Ok buds.. There's 31 coaches that would take at least one of these guys on their team any day.

There's 31 coaches that would take at least one of 50 players on a list that includes Ovechkin, what a controversial take.

The hits "stat" is useless, every arena tracks them differently and there's no context on whether the hit was useful or not. Polak was notorious for racking up big hit counts because he'd ice the puck every time he got pinned in his own zone and have to spend 2-3 shifts trying to get the puck back. I'm not going to give a player credit for having high hit counts if its their own fault they're in the d-zone without possession so often.

 

[tom_servo]

That's Brandon Tanev smacking all the doubters.