
Chris "Knuckles" Nilan holds the record for the most penalty minutes per game. Over 16 seasons, Nilan averaged 4.42 penalty minutes per game. That's just shy of a fighting major in every NHL game he ever played in.
Nilan knows how to get everything out of a game. He holds the NHL record for penalties in a game with 10. He holds the team record for most penalty minutes in a game for both the Montreal Canadiens (39 PIM) and the New York Rangers (35 PIM).
I know, I know, broken record. Penalty minutes don't equal dirty play. But come on. 4 and a half minutes per game over his entire career? Sure, lots of fighting majors and misconducts make up that number, but you have to think that a lot of those minutes are from dirty plays like
butt-ending,
suckerpunching and puck throwing.
Puck throwing?
Yes, puck throwing. From
The New York Times Nov 29, 1981"In [a] Nov. 21 game in Montreal, Nilan and Baxter were sent to the penalty box for roughing after a brief skirmish on the ice. While in the penalty box, Nilan took a frozen practice puck from a bucket under the bench and threw it at Baxter's head."
And speaking of dirty. I wonder if they
washed this bathing suit before putting it back on the rack?
"Yet again, Chris Nilan went out fighting. Seventeen years after he ended his multimillion-dollar hockey career, the former NHL enforcer engaged in a bloody brawl with two security workers Wednesday as he allegedly tried to walk away from the South Shore Plaza wearing a purloined Tommy Bahama swimsuit under his shorts."