I disagree. I dislike staged fights, but we need a player on our team to hold other guys accountable for their cheap shots. If Lucic were to (intentionally) injure one of our players, who do we have to send a message that that **** doesn't fly? I don't want a Parros who doesn't play and doesn't fight much either, but I want someone who can keep everyone honest. It's a necessary evil in this game.
This is such a primitive mindset. Everyone knows the NHL is aggressively deterring gooney, and fighting altogether. Cheap shot artists will be held accountable by the league with stiffer fines and suspensions. Also, it's up to every player to stand up for himself, like the old days, when superstars could also fight if needed. Let's see Matt Cooke try to run after a guy like Evander Kane again.
And hold who accountable? Most cheap shot artists are not intimidated by an enforcer, for two reasons, either the cheap artist can fight the enforcer and hold his own (Lucic would've easily destroyed Parros), or he simply rejects to fight the enforcer, either way, enforcers always fail to do their jobs.
The Habs have tried numerous "tough guys", and so far, I have yet to see any of these experiments work. With or without Parros, we still got pushed around. We need to get bigger up front, it's as simple as that.
Like others have said, we need to build a tough
team, not have a bunch of undersized players with one goon.
Parros was a garbage player and a terrible fighter, what a waste of cap space and a roster spot.