What does it take to be a good agitator in today’s NHL? Obviously, you must have the ability to get under the opponent’s skin, but you don’t want to be consistently putting your team at a disadvantage by taking silly penalties. You have to be able to annoy your opponent on the scoresheet as well, and you certainly can’t be a waste of a roster spot.
Some players have mastered the art of toeing the line of illegal and legal to find a way to get their opponents off their games. Here are the five best at it in the entire NHL.
Nazem Kadri
For better or worse, Nazem Kadri has become one of the biggest pests in the NHL. He isn’t afraid to play a physical game, but that comes with a cost. He’s faced six suspensions by the NHL since 2013 for behavioral issues, with his most recent one coming during the 2021 NHL playoffs against St. Louis Blues, when he received an eight-game ban for a hit to the head of Justin Faulk.
But when Kadri isn’t acting up, he’s a very effective two-way forward. That’s why the Colorado Avalanche took a chance on him when they acquired him for Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot in July 2019. He averaged 51 points per 82 games over the previous three seasons and was an efficient five-on-five scorer, giving the Avalanche a boost as their second-line center behind Nathan MacKinnon. Ultimately, he helped them win a Stanley Cup.
There’s no doubt his current team, the Calgary Flames, is better with him in the lineup. Kadri quietly had an excellent 2023-24 season, totaling 29 goals and 75 points in 82 games. It appears that the Flames are retooling/rebuilding, so it might be a rough year or two while they work their way back to being competitive. But with Elias Lindholm no longer on the team, Kadri is their first-line center, and that should lead to him producing on the scoring sheet while still being annoying to play against.
It’s also worth noting that while Kadri is a pest, he’s cut down on the illegal hits, so it appears he’s learned how to be a pest within the rules of the game.
Travis Konecny
Like the Flames, the Philadelphia Flyers are in the middle of a rebuild/retool but also have one of the most annoying players in the NHL. Travis Konecny is not afraid to stir it up with his opponents, but he’ll also light the lamp and scoresheet. He’s been the Flyers’ most consistent scorer over the last two seasons, totaling 30-plus goals in each while being close to a point per game.
Konecny has been the Flyers’ most efficient five-on-five scorer over that stretch, averaging 2.27 points per 60 minutes. He excels at creating offense off the rush, and the Flyers generally control play when he’s on the ice. The difference between Konecny and someone like Kadri is Konecny generally avoids calls from the league’s Department of Player Safety.
Still, Konecny will find ways to get under his opponent’s skin. Remember when he slashed New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith, which caused Smith to retaliate and get suspended for two games? Or when Montreal Canadiens blueliner Kaiden Guhle slashed Konecny and received a one-game suspension himself? That’s what Konecny has a knack for doing while being one of his team’s most productive scorers, making him the ideal pest for the NHL in 2024.
Brady Tkachuk
The Ottawa Senators may be struggling to get out of their rebuild, but they have one of the NHL’s biggest pests in Brady Tkachuk. While he’s not the scorer his brother is, he’s consistently produced for a Senators team that has struggled with offensive consistency in recent years.
Tkachuk has come into his own over the last three seasons, averaging 35 goals and 76 points per 82 games. He’s been one of the league’s better five-on-five goal scorers, averaging 1.02 goals per 60 minutes, a top-50 rate among forwards with at least 1,000 minutes logged since the start of the 2021-22 season. And his offensive impacts are consistently among the best league-wide.
Not only does the younger Tkachuk brother put up points, but he’s not afraid to cause havoc. He’s totaled over 100 penalty minutes in each of the last three seasons; his 134 PIMs in 2023-24 were second league-wide to Utah HC’s Liam O’Brien. He’s a player that pretty much any NHL GM would covet, given his offensive production and knack for annoying his opponent.
Matthew Tkachuk
Are you shocked to see the other Tkachuk on this list? Matthew Tkachuk is not afraid to get in the dirty areas and cause havoc around the net. While he doesn’t find himself in the penalty box as often as his brother, he’s still one of the league’s penalty leaders; he racked up 88 PIMs last season, a top-20 rate league-wide.
Tkachuk has also faced a handful of suspensions, including one for elbowing Drew Doughty in 2017. Doughty has not been shy in his feelings about Tkachuk, going as far as to say, “[he’s] a guy that kinda thinks he’s really good but isn’t.”
Related: Matthew Tkachuk Is An Elite Agitator
Though Doughty does not like Tkachuk, it’s clear Tkachuk is now a standout two-way forward among the league’s top scorers. He does a bit of everything, making him one of the best young players in the league. Add the edge he plays with, and there’s a player who knows how to get under his opponent’s skin quite well.
Brad Marchand
You had to figure we’d see his name at some point during this discussion. How do I know that Brad Marchand is a good agitator? He seems to enjoy bothering opponents, and he doesn’t always do it legally. In a 2020 poll conducted by The Athletic, 29 percent of NHL players voted Marchand as the dirtiest player in the league (From ‘The 2020 NHL Poll: Players have their say on the best player, worst referee, drinking buddies and more’, The Athletic – 1/20/2020).
But generally, Marchand’s actions are pretty harmless, like when he started licking NHL players for some unknown reason. He is a smaller player and doesn’t shy away from dropping the gloves. But he has toned down his antics in recent seasons, becoming more of a scorer rather than an agitator. Still, he hasn’t completely avoided a call from the Dept. of Player Safety; his most recent suspension came in 2022 for roughing/high-sticking Tristan Jarry.
Marchand will still get under your skin despite toning it down, making him all the more dangerous given his scoring output. He finished with 85 points in each of 2016-17 and 2017-18 and set a career-high in 2018-19, with 100 points in 79 games. Had the 2020-21 season not been 56 games due to the COVID pandemic, he would’ve been on pace to finish with 106 points.
Though Marchand may not be at the peak of his powers anymore, he still finished with 67 points in 82 games a season ago. Father Time catches up with everyone, but he’s still one of the league’s more annoying players. As long as he’s in the NHL, I’m sure his opponents will continue to think of him as one of the league’s most annoying, and perhaps, dirtiest players.
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Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick
