I find it very strange how many people disliked Petro as being too "soft" to be a captain but are thrilled with ROR wearing the C. Is it just because he weighs more and has a beard year-round?
Petro has 169 more hits in 46 fewer NHL games than ROR (515-346 for their careers). Petro is the more physical player.
Petro's 1 career NHL fight is exactly 1 more than ROR's NHL fight card. Petro's 5 fights in junior are 5 more than ROR's junior career. Neither are fighters, but ROR has literally never fought in a hockey game unless he dropped the gloves in AAA.
Petro has more than double the career PIMS of ROR (241-106). ROR has had two seasons where he only took one penalty all year. He had another season where he just took two penalties. ROR has a Lady Byng win, has been nominated each of the last three seasons and has been in the top 10 for the award for 7 straight seasons. Petro has never been in the top 10 of voting for the Byng.
I have been on record that I think it is absolutely idiotic to hold any of these metrics up as reasons why a guy shouldn't be captain. The "too soft" narrative has been stupid for years, but we should at least see some consistency here. ROR is a softer player than Petro. If you had an issue with Petro not retaliating for things, you should have that issue with ROR, because he retaliates less. If you had an issue with Petro not standing up for teammates, then you need to have that issue with ROR too. Both of them play pretty much all of their defense with their sticks and by taking great angles to pucks (and both are top 10 in the league at that skill). If that was an issue that made Petro a questionable choice for captain, then you need to have that problem with ROR too.
Again, I never had any of these issues with Petro and I don't have them with ROR either. But a lot of people on here seem to hold that stuff against Petro but not ROR. The idea that other teams "won't take liberties with us like they would have with Petro" isn't based in a shred of reality.
