THN Enforcers Week: Top 5 Flyers fighters of all time

These players were celebrated in Philadelphia for their willingness to drop the gloves and chuck some knuckles.

The amount of notable enforcers the Philadelphia Flyers have had since their inception in 1967 might just be unparalleled. The Flyers' early years were characterized by their grit and toughness, earning the club its famous "Broad Street Bullies" moniker. That rugged style of play is part of the Flyers' identity, and it remains a key component to the team's makeup even today.

For a team with a history of violence as storied as the Flyers', it's hard to limit the top enforcers in franchise history to just five. But for Enforcers Week at The Hockey News, we're giving it a go.

Here are five of the greatest enforcers in the history of the Flyers.

Simmonds is probably higher on this list than he should be, but there's no question that he's one of the toughest players ever to put on an orange and black sweater.

Simmonds spent eight seasons in Philadelphia, logging 784 penalty minutes in 584 games as a Flyer. But what made Simmonds such a good enforcer wasn't just his willingness to drop the gloves and rearrange opposing players' faces. He was also just really good at hockey. He logged 203 goals and 378 points as a member of the Flyers and established himself as an elite netfront presence on the power play in his prime years.

Simmonds was a heart-and-soul player for the Flyers, and his toughness rightfully made him a fan favorite throughout his tenure in Philadelphia.

Tocchet has put together a solid career as a head coach. He's served as head honcho for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Arizona Coyotes, and the Vancouver Canucks, and he was also a fun addition to TNT's group of studio analysts prior to taking the coaching job in Vancouver.

But when he was a player, he was an absolute madman. Like Simmonds, Tocchet was not only extremely tough, but also very good at contributing on the scoresheet. In 621 total games as a Flyer, Tocchet netted 232 goals and 508 points and, to this day, remains the Flyers' all-time leader in penalty minutes with 1,815.

Tocchet didn't back down from anyone. Whether it was Scott Stevens, Wendel Clark or even Bob Probert, Tocchet epitomized what it meant to be a Flyer.

He was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame in 2021, and it's not hard to see why.

Before Berube was known as a Stanley Cup-winning bench boss, he was regarded as one of the baddest dudes in hockey.

Just ask Tie Domi.

Berube only spent seven seasons in Philadelphia, but still managed to register 1,138 penalty minutes in just 323 games as a Flyer.

Unlike Tocchet and Simmonds, Berube had one job, and that was to fight. And he did it quite well. But while his scoring numbers were largely unspectacular (20 goals and 54 points as a Flyer), Berube served a key role as the Flyers' bona fide tough guy during an era when enforcers were still a staple in NHL lineups.

Brown will likely go down in hockey lore as the guy who cross-checked Tomas Sandstrom in the face, but that shouldn't overshadow his abilities as a fighter. Brown was tough as nails, and he played the enforcer role as well as anyone.

He quite literally couldn't wait to throw fists at opponents.

On May 14, 1987, just before the Flyers and Montreal Canadiens met for Game 6 of their playoff series in the conference finals, a locker room-clearing brawl broke out after Ed Hospodar skated back onto the ice after warming up and began raining fists onto Montreal's Claude Lemieux. Upon hearing of the mayhem on the ice, Brown quickly raced out of the locker room — without a sweater on — simply to square up with Canadiens tough guy Chris Nilan and take part in the chaos.

Classic Dave Brown.

Brown only logged 39 goals and 78 points in 552 games as a Flyer, but racked up 1,382 penalty minutes in the process.

The guy's nickname is "The Hammer" for crying out loud. How can he not be the No. 1 enforcer in Flyers history?

During the Broad Street Bullies era when the Flyers were chock-full of tough guys, Schultz was the toughest of them all. He had a jaw of steel and went toe to toe with every big-time fighter he could get his hands on.

To this day, Schultz owns the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a single season with 472.

Schultz was no slouch in the scoring department, either. While his numbers don't jump off the page, he did log 51 goals and 115 points in 297 games as a member of the Flyers.

His career only lasted nine years — not shocking given the beatings he took (and dished out) — but he remains one of the more celebrated figures in Flyers history.