Maloney is known as having had one of the hardest right-hand punches in his day, and is considered by many hockey fans[citation needed] to have been the greatest fighter (along with the Flyers' Dave Schultz) in NHL history.
As a member of the Red Wings, he was the third NHL player to be charged by local authorities with a crime resulting from action on the ice.
In the second period of a 7–3 loss to Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens on November 5, 1975, Maloney came to the defense of teammate Bryan Hextall by attacking the Maple Leafs' Brian Glennie from behind, flattening him with a right‐hand punch, hitting him several more times and repeatedly lifting and dropping him, face first, to the ice.
Despite Glennie's hit on Hextall being described by The Associated Press as "a clean check," Maloney claimed the force of the contact was excessive and that he had no intention of injuring him.
He was charged with assault by Attorney General of Ontario Roy McMurtry the following day on November 6,[1] but was acquitted just under eight months later on June 30, 1976.