NHL Playoff Villain Rankings: The Biggest Villains This Season

No sport seems to create villains better than hockey. 

After a post-concussion-consciousness period where NHL pundits suggested that maybe fighting ought to go away, we collectively settled back into a ‘Isn’t it cool when these guys hit each other?’ phase. 

The fighting and overall physical nature of hockey certainly helps to create villains in the sport. 

Here’s a ranking of the five best players in the NHL that fans either love to hate or begrudgingly have to defend all their antics. 

NHL Playoff Villain Rankings: The Biggest Villains This Season

1. Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers

Tkachuk may be in the running for most overqualified playoff villain ever. 

There’s a class of players who are just pests or just enforcers, they only exist to either cause problems or protect other players. Tkachuk could very well be one of the best pests to ever play the game but he’s also one of the better overall talents in the NHL.

In the Panthers’ 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday, Tkachuk had the headline-grabbing late hit on Jake Guentzel, which earned him a five-minute major — a hit that he very well could have, and maybe should have, been suspended for. But he also had Florida’s only goal in the game. 

He and his brother, Brady, an honorable mention on this list, started a borderline international incident because of their play in the first Four Nations game for Team USA against Canada. 

The only part of Tkachuk’s play that disrespects the playoff villain game is that he never wants to fight. He’ll instigate his fair share of fight-worthy moments but rarely does he ever want to actually tangle, unless it’s on a big stage like in the aforementioned Four Nations game. 

2. Tom Wilson, Capitals

You know you’ve done some shady stuff in your hockey career when your Wikipedia page has a decent-sized “Playing style and criticism” section. 

Wilson’s been doing dirty stuff for over a decade now, but he’s had a late-career resurgence after the viral bench fight in Game 3 against the Montreal Canadiens, for which he faced the maximum allowed fine of $5,000. 

The dramatic flair with which Wilson trolls — he did a classic fake tear move in Montreal in Game 3 — shows that he takes genuine artistic pride in his craft. 

Would the hockey world be a better place without him in it? Probably yes. 

3. Sam Bennett, Panthers

In a pregame interview on TNT before Game 3 against Tampa, Paul Bissonnette compared Sam Bennett to Hannibal Lecter. I think that’s about fair. 

Bennett is the Draisaitl to Tkachuk’s McDavid when it comes to buffonery. Tkachuk’s one of the greatest to ever do it and gets a lot of headlines, but Bennett’s also a Grade A a-hole in his own right. 

He kind of stole new teammate Brad Marchand’s rat powers last playoffs when he sucker punched Marchand in the face — a move that somehow didn’t result in any sort of suspension. 

On a team full of goons, it’s maybe easier to get away with crazy things, given that the referees can’t throw the whole team in the box.

4. Mitch Marner, Maple Leafs

Marner had to get the nod here as the player most likely to wear a skeleton mask and beat the crap out of Daniel-San in The Karate Kid. 

He’s also likely to be nominated for a spot on the NHL’s All-Tennis-Kid-Energy Team. 

On a Leafs team universally reviled by NHL fans, Marner stands above his teammates as the most hateable player.

5. Alexander Ovechkin, Capitals

It’s difficult to parse at which point Ovechkin successfully underwent his rebrand into a universally beloved guy but we shouldn’t forget that early on in his career he was considered to be one of the league’s biggest villains. 

He’s the silly guy who dances to 2 Chainz’ “Bandz a Make Her Dance” now but he’s also got a lot of resume pieces as a villain. 

I don’t think you can get cancelled for stereotyping against Russians but that’s definitely part of his whole villain appeal. 

There’s a 1980s-ish thing happening with him where he conjures up images of Ivan Drago and the USSR Olympics team that was defeated in the Miracle On Ice.

Lest we forget, Ovechkin is good friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin — the dictator recently congratulated him for setting the new goal record. 

Beyond that, there’s got to be someone on this last who’s a villain just because he looks scary.