To determine the NHL’s rowdiest teams and players, BonusFinder, America’s leading casino bonus and online casino review site, gathered data on fights and penalty minutes from the past five seasons (2020-2025).
This post will break down the data, reveal which teams lead the league in fights, and highlight the individuals who have spent the most time in the penalty box.
NHL’s Rowdiest Teams – Most Fights
In the NHL, some teams and players have made a name for themselves not just through their skillful play but by bringing an extra edge to the ice. Let’s see how each of the 33 teams that have played in the league over the past five years rank.
Leading the pack as the rowdiest NHL team in terms of fights is the Nashville Predators. Known for their physical play, the Predators have been involved in a total of 170 fights across five seasons (2020/21-2024/25). Having played a total of 400 games during the regular and post-seasons, the Predators have been involved in a fight in more than one out of every three games (0.425).
Ranking second on our list is the new Utah Mammoth, who managed to rack up 29 fights and a mountain of penalty minutes in their inaugural season. Having only played 82 games, that averages out to nearly one fight every three games (0.354).
Next up are the Minnesota Wild, who have dropped the gloves a total of 143 times in the 409 games played, averaging 0.350 fights per game.
With an average of 0.341 fights per game, the Ottawa Senators took fourth place, while the Tampa Bay Lightning placed fifth with an average of 0.334 fights per game.
Rounding up the top 10 were the Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars, whose fight totals and average fights per game are significantly lower.
NHL’s Rowdiest Teams – Most Penalty Minutes
While fights may grab the headlines, penalty minutes (PIM) offer a broader glimpse into the physicality and discipline – or lack thereof – that a team brings to the ice.
Accumulating a staggering 5,606 penalty minutes across 468 games between 2020 and 2025, the Florida Panthers top the list of most penalty minutes and the highest average penalty minutes per game (11.98 PIM per game).
Following in second place is Tampa Bay Lightning, averaging 10.71 PIM per game with a total of 4,775 penalty minutes over 446 games.
The now inactive Arizona Coyotes come in third, accumulating 3,202 PIM over 302 games (an average of 10.60 PIM per game).
Rounding out the top five are Anaheim Ducks with 4,027 PIM across 384 games (averaging 10.49 PIM per game), and the Nashville Predators, who recorded 4,027 PIM over 400 games, averaging 10.23 PIM per game.
Pittsburgh Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars ranked as the cleanest teams when it comes to penalty minutes.
NHL’s Dirtiest Players – Most Fights
When it comes to the NHL’s toughest players, there are those who are always ready to drop the gloves and engage in the roughest of brawls. Let’s see which of the league’s biggest enforcers have racked up the most fights in recent seasons.
Philadelphia Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers has been crowned as the biggest fighter in the league, with 46 fights under his belt in the past five seasons.
The second place is tied between Los Angeles Kings’ Tanner Jeannot and Detroit Red Wings’ Austin Watson, who have both racked up 44 fights in the same time period.
Following closely in fourth and fifth place are Columbus Blue Jackets’ Mathieu Olivier with 42 fights and Florida Panthers’ Jonah Gadjovich with 40 fights.
The sixth place is shared between Utah Mammoth’s Liam O’Brian and Minnesota Wild’s Marcus Foligno with 38 fights each.
Rounding out the top 10 are Washington Capitals’ Brandon Duhaime (36 fights), New York Rangers’ Sam Carrick (35), Ottawa Senators’ Zack MacEwen (33) and Boston Bruins’ Mark Kastelic (33).
NHL’s Dirtiest Players – Most Penalty Minutes
When it comes to players who consistently rack up penalty minutes, these individuals take the cake for playing with an edge that often crosses the line.
Having spent an average of 2.20 minutes in the penalty box per game over the past five seasons, Mammoth’s enforcer Liam O’Brien ranked top, with 463 minutes logged in 210 games.
Panthers’ winger Jonah Gadjovich followed in second place with 345 penalty minutes accumulated over 176 games, averaging 1.96 PIM since the beginning of the 2020/21 NHL season.
Arber Xhekaj, who plays for Montreal Canadiens, ranked third on the list with an average of 1.81 penalty minutes per game.
In shared fourth place with an average of 1.78 PIM per game are Anaheim Ducks’ Ross Johnston and former Carolina Hurricanes left winger Brendan Lemieux.
Colorado Avalanche’s Givani Smith took sixth place with an average of 1.76 PIM per game, while the top 10 was completed with Red Wings’ Austin Watson (1.64), Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson (1.62), Blue Jackets’ Mathieu Olivier (1.57) and Ottawa Senators’ Brady Tkachuk (1.53).
When it comes to most penalty minutes overall, Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Maroon topped the list with 604 PIM in the past five seasons.
Brady Tkachuk and his brother, alternate captain of the Florida Panthers Matthew Tkachuk ranked second and third with 575 and 546 penalty minutes, respectively.
The top five was completed by Capitals’ Tom Wilson (541) and Boston Bruins’ Nikita Zadorov (513).
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Methodology
To determine which NHL teams and players have fought the most over the past five seasons, BonusFinder gathered data from Hockeyfights.com. The data examined included both regular season and playoffs of 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Penalty minutes and games played were sourced from NHL.com and included both regular season and playoffs of 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.
