Matt Carkner, 6' 4” 229lbs, rugged defenseman of the Ottawa Senators, finally broke into the NHL as a full-time player in 2009-2010, after years of failing to make it in the big league. Carkner proved last season he could play a regular shift, and that he could handle the Senators’ toughest fistic duties.
While Carkner has shown flashes of skill in his career, he can definitely play the role of the brawler efficiently. In fact, in 2001-02 as a member of the Cleveland Barons in the AHL, he amassed 335 penalty minutes in 74 games.
Matt Carkner, Hockey Fights
The Winchester, Ont., native was Montreal’s second-round selection (58th overall) in the 1999 entry draft. In 2001, Carkner signed a free-agent deal with the San Jose Sharks, spending the subsequent five seasons with the Barons. He made his NHL debut during the 2005-06 season, recording one assist and two penalty minutes in one game as a Shark. His first NHL fight took place September 24, 2003, in a preseason game (as a San Jose Shark) against Phoenix Coyotes' Andrei Nazarov.
In the summer of 2008, the Ottawa Senators inked Carkner to a two-year contract. Carkner had spent the previous 2007-2008 season with Ottawa’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. In 67 games, he scored 10 goals and added 15 assists for 25 points while registering 218 penalty minutes. He spent almost the entire 2008-2009 season with the AHL Senators, seeing the ice in the NHL in but one game.
Carkner routinely scrapped in the preseason for the Senators, but he never made the cut until 2009-2010. His first regular season NHL fight happened on October 3, 2009, with less than three minutes to go in a game against the New York Rangers. Carkner asserted himself well against legendary NHL tough guy Donald Brashear. All total, Carkner fought 24 times in the NHL’s regular 2009-2010 season, including three fights with Donald Brashear, and single scraps with Andrew Peters, Cam Janssen, and some of the league’s other top combatants. He played in all 81 games.
Matt Carkner Verse Colton Orr
Matt Carkner four fights with Colton Orr in 2009-2010 not only defined the best rivalry of the season, it may prelude the fiercest escalation the NHL will see this coming decade. The series of fights between Colton Orr and Matt Carkner began Round 1: November 17, when Orr dropped Carkner with a bevy of hard rights in Ottawa.
This four-fight series gave fight fans plenty of thrills. While Round 1 featured Orr winning with a quick, intense knockout, in Round 2: December 14 Carkner avenged his loss with a knockout of his own, capping his decisive win with a punch that floored Orr, and left his opponent with a nasty facial cut.
But Orr got his revenge in Round 3: February 6 with a thunderously brutal knockout. Carkner was laid out for a few seconds, but somehow mustered the strength to wobble back to the penalty box. By the time they got to Round 4: March 6, Carkner wanted nothing to do with Orr again. An eager Orr found Carkner, who seemed a little gun shy, in a scrum. Orr took the decision in the rather uneventful fight, in which Orr received the extra two for roughing. The Carkner-Orr saga supplied hockey fight fans with the most compelling saga of retribution and payback in decades.
Matt Carkner finished the 2009-2010 season with 24 fighting majors. His career NHL Totals: 83 games played, two goals, 10 assists, 12 total points, and 192 penalty minutes. He played six games in the playoffs last season, chipping in one goal and amassing 12 penalty minutes. Carkner has 29 career NHL fights, including five in the preseason.
Orr-Carkner 2010-2011
Round five of the Carkner - Orr rivalry took place October 9, 2010. In the third period, with his team up 5-1, Orr found Carkner behind the Senators' net. In the brief, but meaningful scrap, Orr seemed the aggressor and won the decision.
Brian D'Ambrosio - Brian D'Ambrosio is the author of more than 500 published articles and seven books, including From Haikus to Hatmaking: A Year in the Life ...
