Donald Brashear: The Last Great Flyers Enforcer
Since “graduating” from elementary school, I’ve never been into going to a costume Halloween party, but whenever I’ve gotten dragged to one I’ve thrown on an old Flyers sweater with names like Mike Richards and Donald Brashear on the back.
When I was getting ready to write this article, for some reason, I kept on thinking about Donald Brashear, and I’m not completely sure why.
I think it was because of some recent news articles about Brashear and some personal issues that he had, but I’m not going to speak about them because we all wrestle with some demons in life. I decided to type his name into Youtube, and I was not disappointed as I was greeted by highlight videos of Brashear just lighting up guys with his nasty left hand that must have felt like a sledgehammer smacking you in the face.
Even if Brashear lost the fight, opponents couldn’t have felt too great when they woke up the next morning after a meal of rapid-fire fists to the face. I’m not sure which announcer said it, but they described his left hand as a “jackhammer” which couldn’t be more true.
One of his best fights as a Flyer was in 2005 when he faced up against the former Islander and Penguin Eric Godard (nicknamed “The Hand of God”) where the two enforcers went at it.
In the fight, Brashear strategically waited and took some right hooks for a few seconds till he could unleash a flurry of lefts.
It probably wouldn’t shock anyone to hear that Brashear has pursued a career in MMA and boxing, and once got some boxing lessons from Smokin’ Joe Frazier. Brashear was a left-winger but no one mistook him for a speedy goal-scoring left-winger as he only netted 50 goals in his career. Which is a tally that fellow left-winger Alexander Ovechkin has exceeded in a single season 7 different times in his career.
He wasn’t in the league because of his offensive abilities, as his objective was to protect his teammates on the ice and set a tone like the Flyers did so great in the ’70s.
Growing up, my father would tell stories about the Broad Street Bullies and how much fun it was to watch the team growing up. So I grew up as a fan of fighting in hockey, and have really appreciated the grit and toughness of enforcers as I’ve grown older. That’s partly why I am such a bigger defender of Brashear because he brought an older style of playing to the Flyers teams of my youth. Brashear is one of the smartest fighters of all-time because he didn’t fight like other enforcers do where they look like the Tasmanian devil just whipping punches.
What he didn’t have in size against an opponent, he made up for with strength and smarts.
Brashear is the last great Flyers enforcer, and with the trend of today’s game he might end up being the last great fight-first player to put on the orange and black sweater.
Jody Shelley was a lot of fun and tossed the mitts a good amount in his three seasons with the Flyers, but he was never physically punishing as Brashear was.
The pure enforcer role essentially went away when John Scott retired as the game has changed, and player safety has become a priority. There are still some “enforcers” in the league today like Tom Wilson and Zack Kassian, but they have to be multi-tooled players that do more than fight. I understand the argument for getting read of the enforcer role in today’s NHL, but you can’t tell me that a Brashear type player wouldn’t be an upgrade from the 4th liners the Flyers had last year in Derek Grant or Nate Thompson.
The Flyers got into 11 fights in the 2019-20 season according to Hockeyfights.com, so it’s not like no one will throw punches on the team, but I prefer the top 6 guys to stay on the ice and out of the box. The role of the enforcer is to protect his teammates and create an almost checks and balances approach to the game. The true role of the enforcer is described really well in the documentary “Ice Guardians” which features legendary Flyers enforcers like Rick Tocchet, Dave Brown, Dave Schultz, and Todd Fedoruk.
The documentary does not sugar coat enforcers, and it’s a very gritty look at the position, but it talks about how it’s needed in such a high game where 200-pound men are weapons in their hands and blades on their feet.
Opposing players need to know that if they deliver a dirty hit then they’re going to have to face the repercussions of it so they don’t do it again, and that’s the ironic beauty of the enforcer.
Featured Image: ---
Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:Flyers Unique Columns