Chicago Blackhawks Greatest 100- #87 Dave Manson

If you grew up in the 70 or 80’s one of the reasons you watched hockey games was for the fighting, and Dave Manson was one of those guys that never disappointed.

I don’t care what anyone says about today’s game, but 1980’s and early 1990’s hockey was the best because it had tons of scoring and enforcers were part of the game, sure goalies weren’t very good back then but that’s a different story for a different post.

Enforcers are now gone from the game with the likes of John Scott and Raffi Torres no longer in the game.  Sure there are still Ryan Reaves and Brandon Bollig‘s on 4th lines, but there impact on the game isn’t like it was back in the day.

The enforcer was out there to protect the stars, like Al Secord on Denis Savard‘s line, but the thing about 80’s and 90’s enforcer was they also had offensive talent.

Dave Manson had a booming shot and was a very high draft pick by the Hawks back in 1985 (11th overall)  Manson of course wasn’t known for his offensive skill, but during his career with the Chicago Blackhawks scored 45 times with 110 assists so it wasn’t like he was just a goon on skates when he laced them up for our favorite team.

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That being said Manson was a fighter, and his 2,792 penalty minutes rank him 13th all-time in penalty minutes in NHL history.

During the 1988-89 season, Manson had the most fights of his career with 15, and hockeyfights.com only had him losing one of those fights which says how great an enforcer he was in his prime.

Here is Manson back in the 90’s with

Ed Olczyk

on the ice watching the mistro do his thing.

Say what you want to say about fighting, but it was part of the game and one I miss on some nights, and you can tell that Pat Foley misses it a lot. When the Hawks do get in a fight, Foley’s excitement is felt on this side of the broadcast that is for sure.

Manson played in 112 playoff games, but never was able to hoist the Stanley Cup, but he was a part of some fun Chicago Blackhawks teams in the late 80’s

What do you think? Too High or shouldn’t be on the All-Time list?

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