Team toughness

[Nopuckluck]

Caps are not trading Wilson anyway. He’s been on their first line and they like his physical game. Make no mistake they like him running around and running players through the boards. They want him to play on the edge and they want him crashing the net and creating havoc in opponent’s goal creases....and if an opponent ends up in the hospital because he’s run them over....well it’s tough **** for him.

Sometimes I’m amazed by opinions here. Leo Durocher a long time ago succinctly put it ‘nice guys finish last’. Practically every team in the league has a peckerhead of one kind or another. Some teams have 3, 4, 5, 6. For real. Our biggest peckerhead might be Kreider—after that I don’t know who. Zucc? He’s hardly Brad Marchand. To me he’s basically a little guy who pushes back when he’s shoved. AV did not encourage his players to push back or defend each other. The team has to reidentify. I don’t exactly want them to be nice guys anymore.

Hallelujah. Amen. I’d love one or two guys like this on our team. It’s always Rangers players in the hospital from cheap hits. It’d be nice to see it reversed

 

[NYR]

Caps are not trading Wilson anyway. He’s been on their first line and they like his physical game. Make no mistake they like him running around and running players through the boards. They want him to play on the edge and they want him crashing the net and creating havoc in opponent’s goal creases....and if an opponent ends up in the hospital because he’s run them over....well it’s tough **** for him.

Sometimes I’m amazed by opinions here. Leo Durocher a long time ago succinctly put it ‘nice guys finish last’. Practically every team in the league has a peckerhead of one kind or another. Some teams have 3, 4, 5, 6. For real. Our biggest peckerhead might be Kreider—after that I don’t know who. Zucc? He’s hardly Brad Marchand. To me he’s basically a little guy who pushes back when he’s shoved. AV did not encourage his players to push back or defend each other. The team has to reidentify. I don’t exactly want them to be nice guys anymore.

This all day long

 

[NYRFAN218]

Hallelujah. Amen. I’d love one or two guys like this on our team. It’s always Rangers players in the hospital from cheap hits. It’d be nice to see it reversed

So you want opponents players in the hospital from cheap hits?

 

[NYRFAN218]

Caps are not trading Wilson anyway. He’s been on their first line and they like his physical game. Make no mistake they like him running around and running players through the boards. They want him to play on the edge and they want him crashing the net and creating havoc in opponent’s goal creases....and if an opponent ends up in the hospital because he’s run them over....well it’s tough **** for him.

Sometimes I’m amazed by opinions here. Leo Durocher a long time ago succinctly put it ‘nice guys finish last’. Practically every team in the league has a peckerhead of one kind or another. Some teams have 3, 4, 5, 6. For real. Our biggest peckerhead might be Kreider—after that I don’t know who. Zucc? He’s hardly Brad Marchand. To me he’s basically a little guy who pushes back when he’s shoved. AV did not encourage his players to push back or defend each other. The team has to reidentify. I don’t exactly want them to be nice guys anymore.

It'll be interesting to see how much of the team toughness was impacted by AV. As of now, we have a few guys that are "tough" on the roster in some form of another in Kreider, Smith, and Zucc. Beleskey fits if he's on the roster but these guys listed will get into people's faces, drop the gloves if necessary, etc. They can use some more guys that aren't nice as well but I'm curious to see how much of the team toughness lacking as a whole being a Vigneault issue as much as it's a personnel issue.

 

[NYR]

Hallelujah. Amen. I’d love one or two guys like this on our team. It’s always Rangers players in the hospital from cheap hits. It’d be nice to see it reversed

 

[Waivers]

I think any team could benefit from having Wilson, depending on the situation of course. Some teams and their style may not necessarily benefit as much as other teams when having Tom Wilson (i.e., I don't believe the impact Wilson would have on the Penguins would be as great as his current role on the Washington Capitals). It all comes down to how a coach is going to employ and use this asset. Some may always advocate for a playmaker or a sniper, but having a guy who bangs with a teensy bit of skill can't hurt you if the rest of your team is well off in other departments.

The Washington Capitals have some grit and they really support AO's whole aura. Naturally, he's an in your face player along with Orpik and typically when players like these are on a team and they are leading by example, typically players like Backstrom and Kuznetsov can too play a bigger game. He compliments AO's game, along with the vision of the Capitals, fairly well. He's coming off his most productive year too. This guy is not Matt Martin by any stretch.

 

[GregSirico]

So you want opponents players in the hospital from cheap hits?

WTF kinda person says that crap?

 

[GregSirico]

Where did we go from playing tough to wanting to put people in the hospital? My goodness, some of you really need to grow up.

 

[GregSirico]

Caps are not trading Wilson anyway. He’s been on their first line and they like his physical game. Make no mistake they like him running around and running players through the boards. They want him to play on the edge and they want him crashing the net and creating havoc in opponent’s goal creases....and if an opponent ends up in the hospital because he’s run them over....well it’s tough **** for him.

Sometimes I’m amazed by opinions here. Leo Durocher a long time ago succinctly put it ‘nice guys finish last’. Practically every team in the league has a peckerhead of one kind or another. Some teams have 3, 4, 5, 6. For real. Our biggest peckerhead might be Kreider—after that I don’t know who. Zucc? He’s hardly Brad Marchand. To me he’s basically a little guy who pushes back when he’s shoved. AV did not encourage his players to push back or defend each other. The team has to reidentify. I don’t exactly want them to be nice guys anymore.

This post is hot garbage!

 

[Waivers]

This post is hot garbage!

I think what he's trying to say is that Marchand is a more in your face player than Zuccarello is, and he too plays on the edge differently than Zuc does. As a result, probably intended as a part of his character anyway, he's a dirty player. He hates to lose more than he loves to win. Those are the types of players that are difference makers. Marchand is also the better player too which is obviously most important.

 

[Boruto]

Playing hard and having a higher compete level will bring more team toughness than any single player. AV was unable to really stoke the fire all that much. The team came out of the gate slow, flat, and uninterested every night. As the proud Inuit people always said, it's not the size of the polar bear but the hunting instincts, availability of seals, and the vestigial hibernation induction trigger in their blood. Torts always stoked the fire with a blue collar mentality and his teams have always been tough with and without fighters. AV is a turtle and turtles turtle. Hard to be tough turtled. We need a coach that can work with young players with flaws without shying them away and taking minutes away to "hide their weaknesses" and constantly keep the team playing hard and motivated. Everyone can play harder and tougher if the team buys in.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Playing hard and having a higher compete level will bring more team toughness than any single player. AV was unable to really stoke the fire all that much. The team came out of the gate slow, flat, and uninterested every night. As the proud Inuit people always said, it's not the size of the polar bear but the hunting instincts, availability of seals, and the vestigial hibernation induction trigger in their blood. Torts always stoked the fire with a blue collar mentality and his teams have always been tough with and without fighters. AV is a turtle and turtles turtle. Hard to be tough turtled. We need a coach that can work with young players with flaws without shying them away and taking minutes away to "hide their weaknesses" and constantly keep the team playing hard and motivated. Everyone can play harder and tougher if the team buys in.

The Rangers were a shit, declining, old, and injured team this year.


The Blue Jackets are already golfing.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

It'll be interesting to see how much of the team toughness was impacted by AV. As of now, we have a few guys that are "tough" on the roster in some form of another in Kreider, Smith, and Zucc. Beleskey fits if he's on the roster but these guys listed will get into people's faces, drop the gloves if necessary, etc. They can use some more guys that aren't nice as well but I'm curious to see how much of the team toughness lacking as a whole being a Vigneault issue as much as it's a personnel issue.

Sans 91-97, the franchise has been the opposite of tough for a good portion of the time period between the Cuban Missile Crisis and when AV's Russian bias ended.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Speaking of Rodney, this came to my mind in regard to the divide between tougher team and #tuffnezz.

 

[eco's bones]

This post is hot garbage!

Just looking at the Caps it’s a lot more than just Wilson. Ovie’s been headhunting since he came into the league. Orpik’s injured lots of player—one is revered and the other well respected and all of them defended and supported by their fan base through thick and thin. Dirty? Not at all if you ask them. And look at our game against Nashville. The consensus on the main board was clean hit by Forsberg. These teams are playing for keeps and the Rangers haven’t been really and if you think they worry overmuch about putting our guys in the hospital—you’re wrong—they don’t care.

 

[Nopuckluck]

So you want opponents players in the hospital from cheap hits?

Not necessarily. I’m just tired of our boys being injured or put in the hospital by other teams’ players with no response or repercussions. If I had to choose I’d be TOTALLY fine with seeing it the other way a couple of times. If you feel differently you’re not honest or an actual Rangers fan because the last few years have been pathetic

 

[Thirty One]

Not necessarily. I’m just tired of our boys being injured or put in the hospital by other teams’ players with no response or repercussions. If I had to choose I’d be TOTALLY fine with seeing it the other way a couple of times. If you feel differently you’re not honest or an actual Rangers fan because the last few years have been pathetic

I do not accept you as the judge of who is or is not an actual Rangers fan.

 

[Off Sides]

Caps are not trading Wilson anyway. He’s been on their first line and they like his physical game. Make no mistake they like him running around and running players through the boards. They want him to play on the edge and they want him crashing the net and creating havoc in opponent’s goal creases....and if an opponent ends up in the hospital because he’s run them over....well it’s tough **** for him.

Sometimes I’m amazed by opinions here. Leo Durocher a long time ago succinctly put it ‘nice guys finish last’. Practically every team in the league has a peckerhead of one kind or another. Some teams have 3, 4, 5, 6. For real. Our biggest peckerhead might be Kreider—after that I don’t know who. Zucc? He’s hardly Brad Marchand. To me he’s basically a little guy who pushes back when he’s shoved. AV did not encourage his players to push back or defend each other. The team has to reidentify. I don’t exactly want them to be nice guys anymore.

This I tend to agree with, at least partially, I don't think they need a full roster of nice guys.

My disagreement is always the same though, if the player has the talent to play up the roster and is not so nice, Marchand, Getzlaf, etc he will be on the ice being able to initiate his own toughness, or can retaliate right then and there on that shift.

Yet any player who is not talented enough to be up the depth chart is not going to be on the ice with the better players on his own team, nor should be on against the better players for the other team, so when transgression are presented it would always be reactionary, next shift, later in the game stuff which is in my opinion far less effective to the point it's near useless.

 

[kovazub94]

Just looking at the Caps it’s a lot more than just Wilson. Ovie’s been headhunting since he came into the league. Orpik’s injured lots of player—one is revered and the other well respected and all of them defended and supported by their fan base through thick and thin. Dirty? Not at all if you ask them. And look at our game against Nashville. The consensus on the main board was clean hit by Forsberg. These teams are playing for keeps and the Rangers haven’t been really and if you think they worry overmuch about putting our guys in the hospital—you’re wrong—they don’t care.

I think if you were to get an honest response from these players you'd hear that they do not want to get their opponents into hospitals as you put it, but otherwise they try to instill a maximum amount physical damage to gain advantage / weaken opposition.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Just looking at the Caps it’s a lot more than just Wilson. Ovie’s been headhunting since he came into the league. Orpik’s injured lots of player—one is revered and the other well respected and all of them defended and supported by their fan base through thick and thin. Dirty? Not at all if you ask them. And look at our game against Nashville. The consensus on the main board was clean hit by Forsberg. These teams are playing for keeps and the Rangers haven’t been really and if you think they worry overmuch about putting our guys in the hospital—you’re wrong—they don’t care.

Some of them even seem to think it’s funny.

 

[haveandare]

Caps are not trading Wilson anyway. He’s been on their first line and they like his physical game. Make no mistake they like him running around and running players through the boards. They want him to play on the edge and they want him crashing the net and creating havoc in opponent’s goal creases....and if an opponent ends up in the hospital because he’s run them over....well it’s tough **** for him.

Sometimes I’m amazed by opinions here. Leo Durocher a long time ago succinctly put it ‘nice guys finish last’. Practically every team in the league has a peckerhead of one kind or another. Some teams have 3, 4, 5, 6. For real. Our biggest peckerhead might be Kreider—after that I don’t know who. Zucc? He’s hardly Brad Marchand. To me he’s basically a little guy who pushes back when he’s shoved. AV did not encourage his players to push back or defend each other. The team has to reidentify. I don’t exactly want them to be nice guys anymore.

The team needs some guys who are rough and annoying to play against, but "nice guys finish last" is a garbage adage usually used by horrible people to try to justify their behavior.

Crosby seems like a pretty "nice guy" to me, certainly these days and certainly by the standards you're setting here. Kessel too. Malkin also. Toews. Kane at least on the ice. Kopitar. How many cups do they have between them? Unless "last" means "first repeatedly," that quote is silly in this context.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

The team needs some guys who are rough and annoying to play against, but "nice guys finish last" is a garbage adage usually used by horrible people to try to justify their behavior.

Crosby seems like a pretty "nice guy" to me, certainly these days and certainly by the standards you're setting here. Kessel too. Malkin also. Toews. Kane at least on the ice. Kopitar. How many cups do they have between them? Unless "last" means "first repeatedly," that quote is silly in this context.

I always thought of Crosby as sort of a cheap pest, and that’s why players kept wanting to hit him in the head.

He’s dirty in the hit you in the nuts or kidneys type of f***er.

 

[haveandare]

I always thought of Crosby as sort of a cheap pest, and that’s why players kept wanting to hit him in the head.

He’s dirty in the hit you in the nuts or kidneys type of ****er.

I feel like he's cooled off with that stuff a lot lately. And compared to Marchand, Wilson, etc, he was always pretty tame.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

I feel like he's cooled off with that stuff a lot lately. And compared to Marchand, Wilson, etc, he was always pretty tame.

He yaps less, but he's still pretty rough just not in the big hit style.

 

[GregSirico]

The team needs some guys who are rough and annoying to play against, but "nice guys finish last" is a garbage adage usually used by horrible people to try to justify their behavior.

Crosby seems like a pretty "nice guy" to me, certainly these days and certainly by the standards you're setting here. Kessel too. Malkin also. Toews. Kane at least on the ice. Kopitar. How many cups do they have between them? Unless "last" means "first repeatedly," that quote is silly in this context.

THIS!