Does this team need an enforcer

[Jim Bob]

We definitely could use a Foligno type back on this roster, just not at 2.835 million per season. However, that type of player can be drafted in the middle rounds and if properly developed fill a role. It would be nice to have a Tom Wilson type player on this roster and it would add size, speed and attitude of this team.

A Tom Wilson type?

Wilson is pretty close to a unicorn.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

A Tom Wilson type?

Wilson is pretty close to a unicorn.

Haha. I said a type. It doesn't have to be that exact mesh. Someone like Alex Tuch who uses his body well off the boards, skates solidly and has some snarl. I agree with you in the nature of Tom Wilson, but "Tom Wilson" like is usually a lower tier version of him.

 

[sabremike]

We don't need an enforcer, we need guys who are actually good at this whole playing hockey thing.

 

[Club]

We need a combination of grit/skill if talking about a player, or two in my honest opinion.

 

[Team Cozens]

Would be nice to have a Brendan Lemieux type.

Or a JT Compher. Love his motor.
Botts did tip his hat last year drafting some of these physical elements in Matthias Samuelson and Matej Pekar.

 

[Chainshot]

Or a JT Compher. Love his motor.
Botts did tip his hat last year drafting some of these physical elements in Matthias Samuelson and Matej Pekar.

He also let one walk in Brandon Hagel.

 

[Flash20]

enforcers are gone ..

 

[Chainshot]

The grit thing is something that goes back well into the Regier years as well. He would have one or two guys on the entire team who played with some jam and that would be it. They never made it a priority. Then under three regimes, they've bled those sort of sand paper players without much effort (outside of the 2009 draft) to make up for it. It isn't part of the philosophy they have operated under.

They have had opportunities to augment and increase it and they have consistently not hit the mark now for years.

 

[K8fool]

enforcers are gone ..

No .. this may b e true in the press release but we need a team loyal psychopath that will (Automatically) give teams pause knowing if they cheap shot our talented softer guys that there will be an immediate cost.. Ourguys can relax and create and the next team that bullies us will get their heads caved in , not by Eichel Skinner etc.. He must play hockey well so the league won’t target him but I believe our new coach and a new guy and one or two already on the roster will send a message to this copycat cheap league that we aren’t f n around and goalies and scorers will get an immediate response so skinner and Eichel Reino DahlinPilut can play hockey and not defend the honor of the franchise .levery night . We will be fine and make the next round with this .and ...a scoring winger and a 3 to 6 mil center ..

 

[K8fool]

The grit thing is something that goes back well into the Regier years as well. He would have one or two guys on the entire team who played with some jam and that would be it. They never made it a priority. Then under three regimes, they've bled those sort of sand paper players without much effort (outside of the 2009 draft) to make up for it. It isn't part of the philosophy they have operated under.

They have had opportunities to augment and increase it and they have consistently not hit the mark now for years.

giving away foligno is a mistake if not replaced with a better version..

 

[Flash20]

No .. this may b e true in the press release but we need a team loyal psychopath that will (Automatically) give teams pause knowing if they cheap shot our talented softer guys that there will be an immediate cost.. Ourguys can relax and create and the next team that bullies us will get their heads caved in , not by Eichel Skinner etc.. He must play hockey well so the league won’t target him but I believe our new coach and a new guy and one or two already on the roster will send a message to this copycat cheap league that we aren’t f n around and goalies and scorers will get an immediate response so skinner and Eichel Reino DahlinPilut can play hockey and not defend the honor of the franchise .levery night . We will be fine and make the next round with this .and ...a scoring winger and a 3 to 6 mil center ..

Then try to sign Wayne even though I think he’s done if he takes three or 4 million I would sign him

 

[Chainshot]

Then try to sign Wayne even though I think he’s done if he takes three or 4 million I would sign him

Signing a player you think is done is not smart management. Simmonds is no longer the player he once was, throwing money at him to bring the ghost of his former self would be silly.

 

[Chainshot]

giving away foligno is a mistake if not replaced with a better version..

That can be said of almost every player of a physical nature this team has let go for years now. It predates Botterill, but he's continued it.

 

[CatsforReinhart]

enforcers are gone ..

I shouldn't have used the word enforcer as it seems to be an issue and even trigger some people into large bold font. Some people take the meaning quite literally and it muddies the discussion.

What is needed is a player who can play hockey but drop the gloves too. Someone in the mold of Chris Simon or Wendel Clark. Kassian was suppose to be that player for us but never panned out.

There is always going to be cheap shots against our players/star players but having someone who can drop the gloves will give our star players more confidence, will be less likely to disappear when they are hit because our guy will drop the gloves and it also lets the next team the sabres are playing know that if you want to hit our star you will get punched in the face.

These plays are unacceptable and on top of that nothing was done to Benn. Hoping new coaching will also change that but soft players can only be so tough. Watch the teammates, they do nothing. Completely unacceptable. Want to watch a team collapse watch that or the Ryan Miller hit.

 

[BananaSquad]

No they need guys that can skate and finish.

 

[sabremike]

No they need guys that can skate and finish.

Unless the league introduces Blades of Steel rules in which the loser of a fight is the only one penalized.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

giving away foligno is a mistake if not replaced with a better version..

Not really, considering we got rid of Ennis's contract and Pominville has out produced him offensively.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

Unless the league introduces Blades of Steel rules in which the loser of a fight is the only one penalized.

They need to remake that game with current players so I can fight everyone with Connor Sheary to get a 5 v 1 powerplay.

 

[Chainshot]

Not really, considering we got rid of Ennis's contract and Pominville has out produced him offensively.

Not to rehash this again but Buffalo took on the worst contract in that deal. That Jason was productive when stapled to Jack is a bonus. But Marcus has turned into the sort of third liner this team could use in spades. Minnesota also got cap to make sure they can sign players they wanted to keep.

 

[Chainshot]

I shouldn't have used the word enforcer as it seems to be an issue and even trigger some people into large bold font. Some people take the meaning quite literally and it muddies the discussion.

What is needed is a player who can play hockey but drop the gloves too. Someone in the mold of Chris Simon or Wendel Clark. Kassian was suppose to be that player for us but never panned out.

There is always going to be cheap shots against our players/star players but having someone who can drop the gloves will give our star players more confidence, will be less likely to disappear when they are hit because our guy will drop the gloves and it also lets the next team the sabres are playing know that if you want to hit our star you will get punched in the face.

These plays are unacceptable and on top of that nothing was done to Benn. Hoping new coaching will also change that but soft players can only be so tough. Watch the teammates, they do nothing. Completely unacceptable. Want to watch a team collapse watch that or the Ryan Miller hit.

While - not wow Siri, you electric git - that hit blows, is it not an issue of the mindset of the entire team that no one did anything at that time then it is to find just one guy who hast to come out and handle it? The “one guy “approach was what Ruggieri tried for years. This isn’t new, this is something that has transcended even this team but it has gotten worse season upon season. This existed before Miller and Milan, this goes back even before Dom took over in the crease. There is a mindset that it’s OK to skate away when a teammate gets jacked up. Moving the needle on that is going to require players who are bred in the bone to make sure that doesn’t happen and then that will rub off on the people around them were followers. They don’t have to be fighters, they just have to have some balls.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

Not to rehash this again but Buffalo took on the worst contract in that deal. That Jason was productive when stapled to Jack is a bonus. But Marcus has turned into the sort of third liner this team could use in spades. Minnesota also got cap to make sure they can sign players they wanted to keep.

At the end of the day year one Scandella and point production while he worst cap hit versus a player who couldn't find the ice works for me. In addition, at that time our BIGGEST need was on the back end. So yes, while Scandella finds himself in the "hopeful to be moved" end on my view, he still was a much needed improvement at the time. I agree that Foligno's tenacity and play on the walls is missed on our third line for sure.

 

[CatsforReinhart]

While - not wow Siri, you electric git - that hit blows, is it not an issue of the mindset of the entire team that no one did anything at that time then it is to find just one guy who hast to come out and handle it? The “one guy “approach was what Ruggieri tried for years. This isn’t new, this is something that has transcended even this team but it has gotten worse season upon season. This existed before Miller and Milan, this goes back even before Dom took over in the crease. There is a mindset that it’s OK to skate away when a teammate gets jacked up. Moving the needle on that is going to require players who are bred in the bone to make sure that doesn’t happen and then that will rub off on the people around them were followers. They don’t have to be fighters, they just have to have some balls.

I believe it was not an Issue under Ted Nolan so the issue is not the franchise but coaches and the team the GM puts together.

You are making it more complicated then it really is.

 

[Chainshot]

If it is not a mindset then why did Nelson get suspended for doing nothing on a cheap shot last year? That only becomes an issue when its done repeatedly and it seems to have become an issue last year.

Nelson got scapegoated. It was a shitty thing for the coach to do. Especially one who skated away from those confrontations every single time in his career.

 

[member 311261]

I've never once seen a team in the NHL change their game because the other team has an "enforcer" or tough guy.

The Marchands of the world just keep Marchanding. If they want to take 2 or even 5, go ahead and try to "enforce".

 

[Jim Bob]

I've never once seen a team in the NHL change their game because the other team has an "enforcer" or tough guy.

The Marchands of the world just keep Marchanding. If they want to take 2 or even 5, go ahead and try to "enforce".

Exactly.

And did other teams’ enforcers stop Kaleta or Barnaby or Ulf Samuelsson or Darius Kasperitis or Dale Hunter or Bobby Clarke or Claude Lemieux or any other cheap shot artist throughout the history of the game?