I respectfully disagree. I am a person who grew up watching the NHL in the 90's and loved the enforcers of the league. Joey Kocur, Bob Probert, Tony Twist, Donald Brashear, Georges Laraque, Tie Domi, etc etc. The days of what you mentioned being a factor are pretty much over though. Sad as it is teams are better off turning the other cheek and getting a power play.
I enjoyed games where you knew two of the top heavyweights were going to square off. Like when Vancouver had Brashear and Edmonton had Laraque. Or when Brashear was with the Flyers and McCarthy played for the Rangers after Lindros was traded there. It gave the games an extra level of excitement and intensity. Those days are long over though.Meh, I grew up with the Broad Street Bullies, but the game is better without fighting as a regular strategy.
Physical teams can pound away all game, the players are bigger and faster, and the ice is the same, so if they didn't curtail dirty play no one would finish a season with a decent roster. As Gudas discovered, you can deliver plenty of pain without cheap shots.
Hextall is putting together a squad that is going to be fast and large, not super fast, but fast enough to hit and intimidate defensemen in the corners going for the puck, and big enough to stand up to any team, Gudas, Provorov, Morin, Myers, Hagg - that's a big tough group of defensemen, Simmons, Patrick, Allison, Bunnyman, Vorobyov, Ratcliffe at forward.
ok, I shouldnt of used the word heavyweight. But I doubt anyone with a fight card is going to worry about Morin. He doesnt really need to be fighting anyway. If he is going to be as valuable as some think he is going to be he will be better served staying on the ice and playing a hard game right to that line sort to speak.
I think Sam likes fighting. Like Simmer, his value isnt going to be enough to keep his gloves on when the **** hits the fans. I cant wait to see him wailing on guys personally
I am sure he likes fighting. If he has to in certain situations fine. But I would prefer him not going to go looking for it. He is going to have to keep his emotions in check at times.
Hes probably not going to partake in too many staged fights but he is gonna get into quite a few spontaneous ones with anyone dumb enough to cheapshot him or a teammate while hes on the ice.
Radulov
Radulov
Radulov!
Hexy please sign Radulov.
Even with these bloated contracts on the books (MacDonald, Lehtera, Weiss and Read) we can still afford to sign Alex Radulov for 6.5-7m multi-year contract and still be under cap!
The syllables of "Rad-u-lov" synch perfectly with your monkey avatar beating his chest three times.
And the idea of signing Radulov is gorillaesque thinking.
No thank you!
No thank you!
No thank you!
fair enough, but he's the only FA I like
Not sure I want him near Provorov.
I keep checking this forum to see if Hextall signed a goalie...
Is that due to free agency starting on the 1st of July?Check again next month.
I didn't like Steve Mason very much, and I hope that Hextall won't surrender into resigning him.
I'm hoping that Hextall signs a veteran for a couple of seasons, in order to allow Carter Hart or Anthony Stolarz to advance to their eventual duties as the next starting goalies for the Flyers.
People on this site like to put me down for my lack of knowledge about hockey (I live in the U.K., and our coverage here is limited). The reason why I don't favour Mason goes back to the clearing pass goal scored on him two years ago during the playoff series where they were eliminated. It was an easy save for any goalie who would've been awake enough to see it, apparently he was day dreaming during that moment. He also liked to remark negatively regarding his defensemen......not exactly what a goalie needs to do when working in tandem with them.
He also threw Hextall under the bus in his exit interview at the close of last season, in regards to Hextall's opinion about the two goalie rotation system.
I'd rather see Mason playing on another team.
I'd also expect the Philadelphia fans to boo him loudly when he returns to face them......very like they did with the baseball player Jason Werth.
I enjoyed games where you knew two of the top heavyweights were going to square off. Like when Vancouver had Brashear and Edmonton had Laraque. Or when Brashear was with the Flyers and McCarthy played for the Rangers after Lindros was traded there. It gave the games an extra level of excitement and intensity. Those days are long over though.
Today's game is not nearly as physical as it once was. A good hard check is now a two minute penalty. What I miss about fighting is now you get the punks dishing out the dirty stick work knowing no one will go after them. Just take away the instigator rule and see what happens.
I'd prefer if they would have kept Mason instead of Nuevy but they didn't ask me. I also agree with him that a 2 goalie rotation doesn't work and so did Hexy when he played. The only problem with Mase is he probably won't take a 2 year deal although he might not have much of a choice at this point. hart and Lyons are our future I don't believe Stolarz is in their plans as a #1.
I was wondering why Cam Wards name has not come up, Carolina has 3 goalies so 1 has to be available...I think I would prefer Ward for the next 2 years if it could be done.