Come on now. The team did not play better defensively when Falk and Harpur were in there. That's disingenuous and ridiculous. We were ****ty with them, and we're ****ty without.
You bring up that we need bigger guys because:
- smaller guys get knocked off the puck easier - NOT TRUE - it all depends on your puck protection skills and has very little to do with your size, although being bigger gives you a small advantage. Look at Alfie, he was not big by any means and was one of the better puck protectors in the league. We don't need bigger guys, we need guys who can move the puck and protect it.
- they can't clear out the net - NOT TRUE - especially with the new NHL you can't do what you did in the 80's and 90's and just cross-check, punch, and rough up without getting a penalty. What you do need to do is box out and tie up sticks. Again this is a fallacy you are trying to push.
Also your point about getting a "tough guy" is meaningless. So we're going to go out and get one of these guys to play "tough" against 2 or 3 teams? But the rest of the time they are useless since most teams don't employ any "tough guys"? For what, to intimidate? You do understand that intimidation was never a thing. Guys will hit, slash, cross-check, etc. even if you do employ a "tough guy". Back in the day you had teams who had multiple "tough guys", and yet all those things still occurred. You know the solution to this is? The refs actually being consistent. If Martin was assessed a penalty and thrown out of the game for trying to injure, that ****ty play would not occur again. I don't understand how hockey needs enforcers but an equivalent violent sport like the NFL doesn't and it's fine. Are hockey players that much more lacking respect that need to enforced by opponents?
This board has been crying for refs to call penalties since the beginning of time & here we are yrs later still asking for the same thing & not accepting that isn't going to change. I'm quite sure every fan base feels the same way. If the refs started calling all those penalties & they have tried that before, it kills momentum & we have a parade to the penalty box & players, management & fans hate it. There is still intimidation in hockey we see it all the time with players calling out other players & we see how some players become invisible when the going gets tough. Fighting in hockey has been a tradition for decades, some teams go without enforcers & others still cling to the idea to protect their stars. It's a difference of opinion, philosophy & strategy in hockey whether it still applies or not with differing or competing schools of thought.
Our small players are not Alfie & using him as an example doesn't make the guys we have now better, they are not going to magically turn into puck possessors. Crosby is great at protecting the puck but I doubt any of our players turn into him magically either, they are what they are, but hopefully they can get better with experience. Not every enforcer is a guy who can't play every shift, Tom Wilson is a great example of the perfect enforcer in that he can also play every shift & that's the kind of player I would like to see Ottawa acquire. But nobody wanted Wilson in his draft yr because he was considered a 4th line goon, how wrong they were. Now look at what he is worth & what he has done for his team, he's a difference maker & the Capitals play with all kinds of confidence with him in their lineup. It's a difference of opinion.
IMO the worse thing that happened to hockey was the instigator rule which gave us the cowardly rats that purposely try & get guys to drop the gloves first to get the PP. Having a team full of enforcers doesn't work just as having a team full of skilled players doesn't work when they get physically punished. IMO you need a balance of both. This team sucks right now because a number of their best players are young & inexperienced, some of their vets suck, the goaltending sucks & the coach sucks. The young guys need some protection or they will be targeted in every game. Isn't that the strategy of every coach to punish & wear down the opposition's best players? And if they get hurt, too bad but good for us. People love to point to certain teams & players who are elite in this league as examples of how things should be done. And that would be great if we had those players but we don't, we have who we have & it's impossible to expect them to play like those elite players.
In every one of these series below Ottawa fans were crying for the refs to call more penalties against the other teams, but they didn't. They called the game or managed it the way they always do & let a lot of stuff go in the playoffs the way they also do. Gooning it up has worked for Ottawa when certain coaches have used that strategy as BM did the yr they went to the finals & PM used it against Montreal & the NYR & it has worked against Ottawa when coaches refused to respond to it.
1. EK gets punched in the face by Boyle, PM has to bring in Calkner to change the momentum & he does.
2. Tanner Glass is having his way with the Sens, GB has to bring in Neil to deter his effectiveness, he does & the series changes momentum.
3. Pronger elbows McCammond knocks him out of the series, no response from Ottawa & the series is over.
4. Domi, Tucker & Roberts man handle the Sens, JM refuses to respond & is taken to school by PQ not once, but four separate yrs.
5. PM deliberately plays a physical brand of hockey against Montreal & schools Therien & Ottawa wins the series.
