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The NHL season is in full swing and so are the league's tough guys.

An NHL tough guy isn't necessarily someone who goes out and beats the snot out of an opponent every night. Sure, goons like that still exist in the league, but an NHL tough guy is more than that. He is a player who will not only stand up for himself and/or his teammates, but will also play through and dish out pain or a game-changing check whenever his team needs him to do so.

Each Wednesday, FOXSports.com's NHL Tough Guy Tracker will spotlight those players and some of the best scraps from around the league.

— Punch Imback
 

The Maple Leafs may have gotten beat up on scoreboard by the Flyers last Saturday night at The Wac, but Toronto toughie Mike Brown made sure his team came away with some sort of victory. In the night's only fight, Brown floored Philadelphia knucklehead Daniel Carcillo with a left/right combo at the end of the bout that quieted the raucous home crowd.

Give Carolina's Jay Harrison credit for hanging in there with Phoenix's Paul Bissonnette on Oct. 23 at the Jobing.com Arena. But in the end, Bissonnette proved to be too strong for the Hurricanes' defenseman, who was knocked to the ice in the scuffle by three powerful rights.

Last Saturday night in Boston, the Bruins may have won the one-on-one battles, but in the end, the Rangers won the war 3-2. The game featured three fights between the two teams, with Boston taking two and New York winning one.

After his team gave up the opening goal against Vancouver on Oct. 22, Minnesota's Clayton Stoner tried to get his team going by dropping the gloves with Guillaume Desbiens on the ensuing faceoff. While Stoner wound up winning the scrap easily, the Canucks manhandled the Wild in the game 5-1.

On Friday Oct. 22 in Columbus, Calgary's Jarome Iginla fell one goal short of a Gordie Howe hat trick. The Flames' captain dished out three assists and one beating to Derek Dorsett in his team's 6-2 win over the Blue Jackets.

After Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin nailed Nashville's Jordin Tootoo along the wall, Kevin Klein wanted a piece of the Penguins' sniper, but wound up with Deryk Engelland instead. Too bad for Klein, as Engelland landed a flurry of hard rights that Klein had no answers for in the 27-second bout last Thursday at Bridgestone Arena in Tennessee.

Two familiar foes duked it out last Thursday night in Philadelphia when the Flyers' Jody Shelley dropped the mitts with Anaheim's George Parros. The two NHL tough guys have now fought each other nine times in their careers, with the latest battle ending in a draw.

On Oct. 21 in Toronto, Colton Orr asked the Rangers' Derek Boogaard for a fight, and in turn got an ass-whooping. It took "The Boogie Man" a while to get going, but once he did it was all over for the Maple Leafs' heavyweight, as the Broadway Bully landed several power punches that shook Orr to the core.

Minnesota's Brad Staubitz got the best of Vancouver's Rick Rypien on Oct. 19 at the Xcel Energy Center. While one of Ripper's punches ripped open a gash over the eye of Staubitz, the Wild winger landed a slew of lefts in the fight to earn the decision. In total un-tough-guy-like fashion, Rypien went after a fan in the crowd later on in the game after being assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, prompting a six-game suspension from the league.

On Oct. 19 at the Verizon Center, there was no defense to be found in a fight between Washington's Matt Hendricks and Boston's Gregory Campbell. The spirited bout ended in a draw as each combatant got in his fare share of blows.