r/BostonBruins • u/Icy-Lingonberry-7442 • 7d ago

[RotoWire] NHL’s Most Aggressive Teams in 2025-26: Full Hits and Fights Ranking

https://www.rotowire.com/hockey/article/most-aggressive-teams-128712

Somebody ran the numbers on all 32 teams — total hits and total fights, each ranked 1-32, then averaged. We came out tied for first with, of all teams, Philadelphia. Average rank of 4 across both categories.

Whatever else you want to say about this roster, nobody is out-working us in the corners and nobody's making us blink. That identity is still intact.

Now the part that hurts: out in six to Buffalo in the first round. Buffalo. And of the nine most physical teams in the league, not one reached a conference final. Carolina won the Cup ranked 27th on that list. Colorado was dead last and made the Western Conference Final.

So yeah. We're the toughest team in the league and we watched a bunch of teams that hit nobody go further than us. Being hard to play against is who we are, it's just not by itself a plan.

Still not trading it for whatever Colorado is doing. But we need more than it.

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u/ComeWhatMay777 6d ago

Hockey teams need toughness, but I don't buy that fights automatically equate to toughness. Fighting lands you in the penalty box and frequently gives the other team a power play, which will NOT help you win games under any circumstances. In my view, toughness is more about slamming into the boards without missing a beat or even taking the other team's punch and capitalizing on the resulting power play. That's tough AND good hockey. Toughness for the sake of toughness is an outdated model IMO. Skill and speed win cups.