In the 1970s, Bob Gainey and Bobby Clarke were money guys in the playoffs. O'Reilly was the prototypical hard-working right wing who would drive through defensemen and crash the net looking for goals. Clark Gillies of the Islanders had legendary fights in the playoffs. Gillies would be my pick for the early 1980s, and Kevin McClelland and Dave Semenko of the Oilers would get the nod in the latter half of the decade. Semenko was a monster left wing who rode shotgun for Gretzky and, because he was so tough, cleared a lot of room on the ice for The Great One.
Fighting is out, but toughness and intimidation still matter.
I also like right wing Claude Lemieux of the Devils, who won Cups in Montreal, New Jersey and Colorado, and right wing Darren McCarty, a two-time Cup winner in Detroit. These are the guys I'd want to go to war with. You have to enjoy both the tingle that runs down the back of your neck when, at 30 mph, you run into something you didn't see and the smell of ammonia that follows. And you have to look forward to throwing back a handful of Advil every six hours and to the muscle cramps you get every morning, and you have to like the way you look with a gray complexion, sunken eyes and some ratty whiskers on your chin. You've got to love all this stuff.