Top 10 Worst NHL Players of All Time

A household name to hockey fans, the tales of John Scott's final season in the NHL don't come without seven prior seasons of uncomfortably atrocious gameplay. An enforcer who bounced around seven different teams, John Scott holds the 7th worst points per game in NHL history (0.04 points per game), scoring 11 points over a 286-game career. His statistics were so infamously abysmal that a fan petition gained traction and successfully submitted John Scott as a division captain to the NHL All-Star Game in 2016 in an attempt to send the worst player to the star spectacle. He would later captain his division to a tournament win and be named MVP of the weekend festivities. The NHL has since rescinded the option for fans to vote players into the NHL All-Star Weekend, capping their vocal meddling behind the scenes to prevent such a phenomenon from ever happening again.

Despite a career that lasted only 4 years and stemming from a prestigious hockey family, Mikkelson added to that prestige by being noted as one of the worst defensemen of the '70s. Through 147 NHL career games, Mikkelson presented such terrible defensive play that he garnered an NHL season record low +/- of -82 over 59 games with the inaugural 1974-1975 Washington Capitals. This feat has never been topped, with the closest being a -65 the following year by Larry Johnston, and most recently a -46 in the cancelled 2019-20 season by Andreas Athanasiou.

Over a 9-year career spanning the entire '70s decade, Bob Stewart spent his time with five teams, including two failed expansion franchises. He amassed 809 PIM and a +/- of -257, the absolute worst in league history, and within almost half the games of his closest contender.

One of the most notable draft busts to go first overall, Alexandre Daigle spent a 10-year career chasing the limelight and ended up with only shadows. Daigle never lived up to the hype that drafted him first overall, famously stating that "no one remembers number two." Undisciplined behavior and a notable reluctance to work hard created toxic locker room relations for the Ottawa Senators, driving many from the team, including captain Alexei Yashin. He even falsely claimed a bomb threat on a team official while chatting with a flight attendant. These off-ice antics and a faltering on-ice presence caused him to exit the game at just 25, while the player who went 2nd overall went on to have a Hall of Fame career.

An ironman of over 1,000 career games, Cooke spent a 16-year career as one of the league's most formidable pests and detestable players of the 21st century. Although his positive on-ice performance allowed stability to his career, he became infamous in the league for his undisciplined, reckless physicality that sought to attack players in vulnerable positions. Notably, he cheap-shotted Bruins veteran Marc Savard in an incident that indirectly ended Savard's career and prompted the NHL to address rule changes to discourage such on-ice incidents. Despite winning the Fred J. Hume award as Vancouver's unsung hero in 2003, the rest of his career left the hockey world viewing him as anything but.

"The puck goes inski." That nickname says it all. He played fewer games but was arguably even worse than Ken McAuley, the other WWII Ranger goalie on this list.

The most infamous draft bust to go number one, Patrik Stefan is notable for two aspects of his 7-year career. Despite being the Atlanta Thrashers' first-ever draft pick, Stefan never became the quality player expected of his position, struggling to maintain a roster spot with performances that failed to live up to his junior years. Never posting higher than 40 points in a season, Stefan became infamous in his last NHL season for failing to score on an open net in the dying seconds of a game, which allowed the opposing team to return the puck and score to tie the game. Stefan retired from NHL play at the end of that season at the age of 27.

Despite a still continuing 6-year career, DeAngelo has developed a mushroom cloud of negative reputation veiling his subpar hockey skill. He has gained notoriety for his on-ice and locker room verbal altercations, being suspended four times in one junior year - twice for abuse of a teammate and twice for abuse of officials and management. This verbal abuse persisted into his NHL career, leading to frequent benchings for off-ice altercations. Most notably, he got into a brawl with goaltender Alex Georgiev off-ice, which led to his indefinite suspension from the NY Rangers.

Coupled with on-ice statistics averaging 3.04 giveaways per 60 minutes (6th worst among defensemen) and a social media presence promoting far-right extremist views, DeAngelo is among the most hated names in present-day hockey.

Dubbed the most hated player by social media with a 47.9% negative vote, criticism has plagued this enforcer-turned-power forward over his 10-year career. Wilson has received immense notoriety for his sometimes gutless physicality, being referred to the NHL's disciplinary board 13 times from 2015-2021 and receiving 30 games worth of suspensions. Many regard this figure as too little, given instances like grabbing a player's hair and slamming their head on the ice multiple times without disciplinary action. Despite this, his on-ice performance has been positively noted, making him a fan favorite among his team's fans while being despised by all other regions of North America.

It's not even hockey. I don't know what the heck he's doing out there. Only Wayne Simmonds could flush an entire season down the toilet because he couldn't stay out of the penalty box. If he avoided stupid penalties, the Flyers would have gone to round two. He couldn't do it because he just flat out sucks.

Don't take my word for it. Pick a game he's in and watch it. Any game.

Count the dirty, cheap shots. Cast your vote. Thank you.

Can't figure why he's even playing.

Vesa Toskala is a big-time loser who should not have even played in the NHL. He let in so many bad goals I lost count.