This list about the most hated NHL players is only about active players, that’s why some notable retired guys like Claude Lemieux, Ulf Samuelsson, Jeremy Roenick, Marty McSorley, Ulf Samuelsson, Darius Kasparaitis and Chris Simon are not included in the list.

Please feel free to add your personal list of players you hate in the comments.

#10 Steve Ott
Steve Ott is a pesky player and a shit disturber. His job is to get under your skin and he is very good at doing it, but there’s a fine line between being a pest and being a scumbag. Steve Ott charges, hits high and gouges eyes. As with most pests nowadays, he only drops mitts against smaller players and turtles a la Claude Lemieux when he is confronted by a heavyweight.

Certified stupid moment:

Steve Ott charging Gregory Campbell

#9 Maxim Lapierre
One of the biggest yapper of them all, Maxim Lapierre is not the kind of player who plays dirty, but he is always in your face trying to push you to the max without ever dropping his gloves. And when he decides to drop them it’s against players like PJ Axelsson, Brian Lee and Petr Prucha.

Certified stupid moment:
Maxim Lapierre dropping his gloves, but not fighting.

#8 Mike Ribeiro
Sure Mike Ribeiro is a very hockey player with nice hockey skills, but he’s also the biggest diver in the league. Some people also remember when Ribeiro slashed Chris Osgood into the chest back in 2008 for no apparent reason. Ribeiro is one of the biggest talkers on the ice, but he never drops the gloves to settle things up. Ribs is a total disgrace to the game.

Certified stupid moment:

 
Mike Ribeiro faking an injury against the Bruins.

#7 Darcy Tucker
Now with the Avalance, Darcy Tucker is a cheap shot master, taking every opportunity he has to injure the opposing playert. Tucker doesn’t drop the gloves often since the Maple Leafs days and he is also a well-known turtler. But to be fair, once in a while Tucker is willing to fight players that do not usually fight like recently, when he fought Carolina Tuomo Ruutu and Montreal Josh Gorges.

Certified stupid moment:

Darcy Tucker destroys former Flyer Sami Kapanen.

#6 Chris Pronger
Captain Elbows, now playing for the Flyers, doesn’t have eight suspensions to his name for being a clean player. When Mount Pronger erupts, he doesn’t just use his elbows and he will use cheap shots, kicks and even stomps to make sure he gets his annual suspension from the NHL.

Certified stupid moment:

Chris Pronger trying to slice Ryan Kesler’s leg.

#5 Alex Burrows
From pulling hair in a fight to faking an injury to draw a penalty, this guy is a marked man in the NHL. And with what happened last week between Alex Burrows and referee Stephane Auger, Burrows has now many enemies among players as well as referees.

Certified stupid moment:

Hair pulling commences at the 1:23 mark.

#4 Jarko Ruutu
Tuomo Ruutu’s brother Jarko, is also a pesky forward know for his tendencies to talk a lot on the ice. And once in a while when Ruutu is tired of talking he bites. A cheap shot artist, Ruutu at least can drop the gloves and defend himself compared to yappers like Lapierre and Ribeiro.

Certified stupid moment:

Jarko Ruutu biting Sabres Andrew Peters.

#3 Jordin Tootoo
The #1 cheap shot artist, Tootoo has always been an agitator even when he was playing junior hockey in Canada. Tootoo likes to charge his opponents, to hurt them and to hit them blindsided. He has been suspended more than once for his conduct on the ice.

Certified stupid moment:

Jordin Tootoo sucker punches Dallas Stephane Robidas.

#2 Chris Neil
One of the most despised player in the league, Neil’s job is to get under the opponent’s skin and he’s fairly good at it. Known for his cheap shots, Neil also likes to drop the gloves and have a good scrap. He doesn’t mind fighting smaller opponents or even tough guys like Donald Brashear or Andrew Peters. However, his opponents must have their head up when he is on the ice because Neil’s elbows have a tendency to get very high and nasty.

Certified stupid moment:

Chris Neil blindsiding Buffalo Chris Drury

#1 Sean Avery
Sean Avery’s erratic behavior has made him the most hated player in the NHL. He is hated both by the fans and the other players. Avery is arrogant, and does not think things through. From his Sloppy Seconds remark about Dion Phaneuf to his turtling and diving and his insults about French Canadians, his goal seems to become the NHL’s villain and he reached his goal admirably. Avery would be more suited for a role in Hollywood than in the NHL. Avery even made a cameo appearance in the Rocket (movie about Maurice Richard) as former NHLer Barry Dill.

Certified stupid moment:

Sean Avery trying to screen Martin Brodeur.

Source:  Hockey Independent

According to Pittsburgh Insider William Depaoli, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been scouting the Toronto Maple Leafs in the past month. Head scout Derek Clancey has been seen at Air Canada Centre many times with winger Alexei Ponikarovsky being a player of interest for the Penguins.

Alexei Ponikarovsky (Getty images)

Ponikarovsky, 29, is a big winger (6′4", 220 lb) with great hands that has 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 48 games with the Maple Leafs this season. Poni is in the final year of his contract that pays him $2.5 million this season; his cap hit is $2.1 million.

The Kiev-native had a career-year last season in Toronto, recording 23 goals and 38 assists for 61 points in 82 games. He would surely complement well Evgeni Malkin on the Penguins’ second line who is forced to play with pluggers Maxime Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko. Talbot only has five points in 25 games this season, while Fedotenko only has 16 points in 47 games this year.

The Penguins also need help on the power play; as of today their power play ranks 29th in the league with a dismal 14.8% efficiency. You have to wonder what’s wrong in Steel Town when you have talented players like Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Bill Guerin and Alex Goligoski on your first unit. With his large frame, quick hands and great vision, Ponikarovsky would certainly help the Penguins in that department.

Ponikarovsky, a fourth round (87th overall) pick of the Leafs at the 1998 NHL entry draft, has spent his entire career as a member of the Maple Leafs.

Does Brian Burke envision him as a core player of the Leafs’ future success or does he use him as a trade-bait to get back some of the high draft picks he traded to acquire budding star Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins before the start of the current season?

Source: Hockey Independent

Leafs' defencemen Mike Van Ryn and Jonas Frogren both practised yesterday and both have been telling everyone they are ready to play, but that doesn't mean they will automatically be in the Toronto lineup at Buffalo tomorrow night.

There's a good chance call-up Jaime Sifers will get another game after a steady performance in his NHL debut Monday. Frogren's injury was supposed to keep him out of the game for about four weeks and it's been only two weeks, so the Leafs will make him undergo another MRI before he is officially cleared to play. His injury is easy to quantify compared to Van Ryn's injuries.

For Van Ryn, it's a little more complicated. He suffered facial injuries, a broken hand and a concussion when Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos slammed him into the glass from behind five weeks ago. Kostopoulos was suspended 3 games for this incident.

The stitches have come out and his cast is off, but the injury that can't be X-rayed, the concussion, must still be checked. Before playing, he has to undergo a test to see if his brain function compares favourably to the baseline test he did at the start of training camp.

Van Ryn was playing very well before he got injured and his return would prove to be a big boost for the Maple Leafs' depleted defense.

More to come tomorrow. From: www.nhl-northeast.com

Some excerpts are from Paul Hunter's article.