Team toughness

Nopuckluck

Registered User
Dec 29, 2017
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Ovechkin is the most dominant power forward of the last 40+ years. He's the one creating space on that line.

If anything, Wilson is pretty good in the neutral zone, but the idea that he opens up space is, at best, an assumption.
Watch the first shift of game 7. ovechkin doesn’t score without him. Enough said
 

eco's bones

Registered User
Jul 21, 2005
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Ovechkin was around for ten years before Wilson. He always created his own space.

But even if that's a given, what do we have here? Not terribly skilled but a good even strength scorer, no PP, hits everything, great at tipping picks, solid defense.

Take the suspensions away and he's Jesper Fast. I love Fast, but is that something this team desperately needs?

Ovechkin has never been so close to a Stanley Cup as he is now though. The Capitals are a mix of different things--on the one hand they have some elite skill---Ovechkin, Backstrom and Kuznetsov--and then they have legit enough support scoring--then they have muckers and grinders--a good but not particularly deep defense. They usually have pretty decent goaltending. They also have a physical element and Wilson is part of that.....and actually so is Ovechkin but with Wilson on his line--the pressure for Ovechkin to play physical all the times is somewhat attenuated.

The Capitals back when they drafted Wilson absolutely foresaw a day when he would be beating up on opponents--either driving them through the boards with hits or punching them with his fists. The Capitals knew what kind of player he was and knew that he would walk the line on dirty play. Drafting him was a cold blooded and rational decision on their part. You might ask why they thought that needed that?---but apparently they did think that and he's become a very important player on their team---even if he doesn't score a lot. Even if he gets suspended occasionally. IMO he's a dangerous player but I don't think they care what I think or what anyone else who doesn't like him thinks.

Not every team is built the same and not every team that has sustained success gets there the same way. The Rangers under AV kind of eschewed the physical way and for a period of time did pretty well (though falling short of a championship) but that doesn't mean all the better teams have to do it the same way to get similar or even better results. There are more essential things that physical play---being able to play with speed for instance--good goaltending but an ability to beat up physically on another team is an advantage that some very good teams still employ. It helps though when the guys who are doing that are better players than Tanner Glass.
 
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Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
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I'm actually quite interested to see if Quinn let's Kreider walk the edge that AV was hesitant to allow.

If he can capture a lot of where he left off with Zibanejad, and have that element that earns him a little space and pisses opponents off, that's a hell of a combination to have.
 

Kakko Schmakko

Registered User
Feb 24, 2018
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I think McLeod is a lousy player and lousy fighter, he loses more than he wins.

I would actually like to sign Tanner Glass he can skate, hit, kill penalties and wins most fights and he can play in AHL or NHL to protect young players.
 

Machinehead

GoAwayTrouba
Jan 21, 2011
142,689
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so? We just played McLeod. Vegas just gave up a ton for Reaves. Need to have at least one, obviously somebody that can also play hockey.
Team toughness is a worthy discussion but enforcers are dead and have been for years. Reaves had all of six fights this year.

You say they obviously have to also play hockey and yet you suggest Glass.
 

GoAwayPanarin

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That guy is not Glass.

Reeves was a salary dump to Vegas and was an extra for most of their playoff run. For the "enforcer" role hes actually half decent as a player but still pretty bad relative to the league.

They should try to draft and develop a top 9 guy who can do all of that stuff if need be. No need to assign a marginal to below marginal talent a starting job on your team if he brings nothing else to the table.

Thats Tanner Glass.
 

Kakko Schmakko

Registered User
Feb 24, 2018
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Team toughness is a worthy discussion but enforcers are dead and have been for years. Reaves had all of six fights this year.

You say they obviously have to also play hockey and yet you suggest Glass.

he can skate circles around McLeod and beat him 9 out of 10 times and can throw hard hits and kill penalties.
 

Kakko Schmakko

Registered User
Feb 24, 2018
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That guy is not Glass.

Reeves was a salary dump to Vegas and was an extra for most of their playoff run. For the "enforcer" role hes actually half decent as a player but still pretty bad relative to the league.

They should try to draft and develop a top 9 guy who can do all of that stuff if need be. No need to assign a marginal to below marginal talent a starting job on your team if he brings nothing else to the table.

Thats Tanner Glass.

Of course I would rather them sign somebody out of AHL or Juniors who can be the new Reaves if they can find somebody like that.

And while maybe Reaves was a bit of a salary dump for Penguins, Vegas gave up a lot for him in that trade. And Penguins did not get past Caps, while Vegas is in the finals.
 
Last edited:

Irishguy42

Mr. Preachy
Sep 11, 2015
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NJ
Now that Reaves scored the WCF clinching goal, people seemingly feeI vindicated for supporting enforcers.
 

Nopuckluck

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Dec 29, 2017
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Yes the prototypical enforcer seems like its gone in today’s NHL but You can’t just dismiss Reaves and Glass scoring big playoff goals and Tom Wilson being a huge part of the Caps JUST BECAUSE THEY DONT FIT YOUR NARRATIVE
 

Deleted member 23124

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I don't think they need to go out and start importing physical players right away. They need to start getting players to go back to playing basic hockey....put the body on the opposing player -- defensively, play the man, not the puck. If you're not doing that, all the physical players in the world are not going to help you.
 

Tawnos

A guy with a bass
Sep 10, 2004
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Charlotte, NC
When Quinn said tough, he literally said tough to play against ... getting Tom Wilson isn't going to solve the issues on this team. Stop it.

I consider "tough to play against" to mean a lot of different things, and many of them are not being tough physically.

A group that works hard every single shift is tough to play against
A group that is relentless on the puck is tough to play against
A group that "never says die" is tough to play against
A group that bends, but never breaks is tough to play against.
A group that stays completely disciplined and dedicated to a game plan is tough to play against.

All of those things were true of the Rangers, at different levels from 2011-12 through 2014-15, the balance of them dependent on the moment you're looking at.

If we can get back to those things, through better players than we've had the last few years, then I don't care how the coach gets there. Quinn certainly sounds like he's much more "Commander Riker" than "Captain Picard" in his style. By the way, I don't simply mean skill when I say better players. It's not a coincidence that this team lost something with the departures of Richards, MSL and Hagelin. All three of those guys sort of embody the 5 things I laid out above.

It will be interesting to see if we can get back to it.
 

Nopuckluck

Registered User
Dec 29, 2017
1,319
710
I consider "tough to play against" to mean a lot of different things, and many of them are not being tough physically.

A group that works hard every single shift is tough to play against
A group that is relentless on the puck is tough to play against
A group that "never says die" is tough to play against
A group that bends, but never breaks is tough to play against.
A group that stays completely disciplined and dedicated to a game plan is tough to play against.

All of those things were true of the Rangers, at different levels from 2011-12 through 2014-15, the balance of them dependent on the moment you're looking at.

If we can get back to those things, through better players than we've had the last few years, then I don't care how the coach gets there. Quinn certainly sounds like he's much more "Commander Riker" than "Captain Picard" in his style. By the way, I don't simply mean skill when I say better players. It's not a coincidence that this team lost something with the departures of Richards, MSL and Hagelin. All three of those guys sort of embody the 5 things I laid out above.

It will be interesting to see if we can get back to it.
Brady Tkachuk
Joel Farabee

Then we are back to it!
 

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