Biggest Hockey Hits in NHL History

The biggest hits in NHL history are open-ice bodychecks that changed games and, in some cases, careers. Scott Stevens’ shoulder on Eric Lindros in the 2000 playoffs sits at the top of nearly every list, followed by his hit on Paul Kariya in the 2003 Final. Power forwards like Cam Neely and hip-check artists like Denis Potvin round out the pantheon of hockey’s hardest, cleanest checks.

What makes a hit legendary

A great hockey hit is not just violent, it is timed. The best open-ice checks catch a puck carrier who is looking down or up-ice, exploding into contact so the target never sees it coming. Leverage matters more than sheer size: the hitter drives up through the body, using the shoulder or the hip as the point of contact.

The hits that endure also carry stakes. A crushing check in a meaningless regular-season game fades, but one that swings a Game 7 or a Stanley Cup Final becomes folklore. The list below leans on clean bodychecks, checks that were legal in their era, rather than cheap shots or fights, and it notes where modern rules would treat them differently.

Scott Stevens on Eric Lindros (2000)

This is the hit every list starts with. On May 26, 2000, less than eight minutes into Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, Flyers captain Eric Lindros carried the puck through the neutral zone with his head down. Devils captain Scott Stevens stepped up and caught him flush, dropping the 6-foot-4, 245-pound Lindros to the ice.

The check was ruled legal at the time and is still described that way in the record books. It was, however, Lindros’ fourth concussion in five months. He sat out the entire 2000-01 season with post-concussion syndrome and was later traded to the Rangers. The Devils won Game 7, 2-1, and went on to lift the Stanley Cup.

Scott Stevens on Paul Kariya (2003)

Three years later, Stevens authored the sequel. In Game 6 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Final, Ducks captain Paul Kariya passed the puck and never saw Stevens coming. The check laid him out cold, and Kariya lay motionless on the ice as the Anaheim crowd fell silent.

What happened next is the reason the moment is legendary. Kariya returned later in the same period and hammered a slap shot past Martin Brodeur, giving the Ducks a 4-1 lead and drawing the famous “off the floor, on the board” broadcast call. Anaheim won Game 6, though New Jersey took the series in seven. Kariya has since said he has no memory of the rest of that Final.

Cam Neely and the power-forward era

Cam Neely defined the power forward: 6-foot-1 and roughly 215 pounds, as punishing along the boards and in front of the net as he was around the crease as a scorer. Nicknamed “Bam-Bam Cam,” he treated bodychecking as a weapon on par with his shot, and few defensemen relished lining up against him.

Neely’s story also captures the darker side of physical hockey. A knee-on-knee hit from Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson during the 1991 playoffs led to myositis ossificans in his thigh, a chronic condition that eroded his mobility and forced him to retire in 1996 at age 31. He still returned to score 50 goals in 44 games in 1993-94 and won the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance.

Denis Potvin and the open-ice hip check

Before shoulder checks dominated, the hip check was the connoisseur’s bodycheck, and Denis Potvin was its master. The New York Islanders’ Hall of Fame defenseman was built low and powerful, and he could read a puck carrier’s path, drop his hips at the last instant, and flip an opponent into the air.

The hip check is one of the cleanest hits in hockey because the contact stays low, well away from the head. Potvin’s ability to deliver it in open ice, on unsuspecting forwards, made him both a four-time Norris Trophy winner and one of the most respected physical defensemen the league has produced.

At-a-glance: the biggest hits

Hit	Season	Point of contact	Legal then?
Scott Stevens on Eric Lindros	2000 playoffs	Shoulder to head	Yes
Scott Stevens on Paul Kariya	2003 Final	Shoulder	Yes
Ulf Samuelsson on Cam Neely	1991 playoffs	Knee-on-knee	Disputed
Denis Potvin (hip checks)	1970s-80s	Hip	Yes
Dion Phaneuf (open-ice checks)	2000s	Shoulder	Yes

How concussion safety changed the game

The hits that defined earlier eras would be officiated very differently today. In 2010-11 the NHL introduced Rule 48, the illegal check to the head, first banning contact to the lateral side of the head and then, in 2011-12, widening it to cover all head contact. It became the rule on which the new Department of Player Safety was built.

The league also adopted a formal concussion evaluation protocol in 2011, requiring players suspected of a concussion to leave the ice and pass a multi-stage return process, including independent neurological review. Research published in 2023 found that concussions from hits to the lateral side of the head fell measurably after Rule 48. As of 2026, the clean bodycheck remains legal and celebrated, but a Stevens-on-Lindros hit today would almost certainly bring a major penalty and supplemental discipline.

The bottom line

The biggest hits in NHL history endure because they combined perfect timing, huge stakes, and, by the standards of their day, legal contact. Scott Stevens set the modern template with his checks on Lindros and Kariya, while Neely and Potvin represent the power-forward and hip-check traditions. What has shifted is the line between a legendary check and a suspendable one, redrawn by a decade of concussion research and rule changes that put player safety at the center of the game.