During the 2010-11 NHL season, there wasn’t much to be excited about in terms of the NY Islanders. Finishing the season with 73 points, the fourth-worst in the league, the skill level may not have been high, but what they lacked in skill, they made up for with toughness.
Zenon Konopka joined the Isles for the 2010-11 season, signing after two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though his time on Long Island was short, playing just one season with the Isles, Konopka tallied 307 penalty minutes, the most in his career, including 25 fights.
Konopka gives praise to a former teammate
While Konopka was no slouch when it came to dropping the gloves, he believes one of his Islanders teammates was the scariest fighter in league history.
“I say this; I think Gills (Trevor Gillies) was the scariest fighter of all-time,” Konopka said on the Spittin’ Chiclets Podcast. “There were guys that were bigger and stuff like that, but he was lefty, and he was crazy, and he loved fighting.”
Gillies didn’t have a long NHL career, but opposing teams were on their best behavior when he was in the lineup.
With 34 fights in 57 career games, Gillies knew his role and played it well.
In the infamous fight night at the Coliseum in 2011 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Konopka and Gillies both found themselves in the middle of the melee often. Gillies dropped the gloves with one of the league’s fiercest fighters, Eric Goddard, in the first period and was later issued a misconduct after his second fight. Konopka tussled with Max Talbot, who injured Blake Comeau in the previous meeting. The Islanders amassed 98 penalty minutes in that game, with 27 for Gillies and 12 for Konopka.
While the team wasn’t racking up the goals, both Konopka and Gillies found ways to keep the fans on their feet.