They also lack opponents most nights, the fights Orr and FMac have are much different than the fights body has. His are mostly due to a play during a game where hes sticking up for some one (see Bodie vs Sill) as opposed to our enforcers who are more in a momentum swinging "scripted fight' so to speek
How is getting beaten up by a lightweight sticking up for anybody? especially when earlier in the game he fought Bortuzzo and Bortuzzo ended up destroying D'Amigo twice later in the game. You think he runs around like that if it was Orr or McLaren that he would have to fight?
I like Bodie because he's pretty good as a player, and offensively added more than players like Ashton and D'Amigo while playing the same role. But as a fighter/enforcer he is completely useless. He does not fill that role in the slightest.
The biggest waste of a roster spot is the lightweight type of fighter. Guys like Brown, Glass, Carcillo, Rinaldo, Clune. Guys who are primarily considered fighters, but also put up 10-15 points. Because in terms of fighting they can't fight anyone who is actually tough and nobody is scared of them, and in terms of playing there are more skilled players that can step in and take their spot. Either use the roster spot on a real player, or use it on a real fighter who can actually fight real tough guys and put those lightweights and guys who run around in their place if necessary. Don't waste it on guys who are both bad at playing and bad at fighting like these guys. It's a different story if they're actually good enough higher in the lineup like Prust, Smith and Clarkson (because that's pretty much what he is at this point... not a 30 goal scorer) but those players are pretty rare.
If Bodie plays like last season then I would actually consider him better than that category because he actually contributed offensively as much as someone like Kulemin, but i'm just speaking in general. If you're going to have a fighter than have a real fighter. Don't play a punching bag just because he'll put up 7 more points during the season. And if you don't want a fighter in the lineup then put in a player who actually has skill like Holland, or is a PK specialist like Mcclement, or a FO specialist, because they'll add more to the team than a guy who gets beat up in fights and puts up 12 points.
The reason guys like Orr and McLaren lack opponents is because most players are scared to fight them. Even those fighters I mentioned above would never fight guys like Orr and McLaren. And based on that i'd said they're fulfilling their role pretty well. For the most part players will not cross the line if there's a guy on the other team that they're scared will come after them. There's a reason our team hasn't suffered a dirty hit that was actually bad in several years now. On the other hand our players throw out questionable hits all the time (we must lead the league in suspensions the last 2 seasons, or be up there at least) and never have anyone go after them for it because teams don't want an Orr or a McLaren coming after their good players. And people think this isn't true but the Minnesota Wild coach literally said that exact thing when Kadri gave their goalie a concussion and nobody came after them for it. He was scared that if they went after Kadri then Orr and Fraser would go after their good players.
It also makes those lesser fighters on the other team redundant. If we're playing Tampa with Crombeen in the lineup and we have Brown and Orr in the lineup then not only are you giving Crombeen somebody to fight and essentially giving him a purpose of being in the game, but you're also basically ensuring that if he goes and hits Gardiner from behind that he'll only have to fight Brown because Brown is in his weight class and therefore would be the one to go after him. But if next game you take Brown out of the lineup and Crombeen's only fighting opposition is Orr then Crombeen will be invisible the whole game because he's scared of Orr. He won't have anybody to fight, and he won't try to act tough or run around because he knows that if he does happen to do something dirty then it's Orr he will have to answer to. And guys like Crombeen are definitely scared of guys like Orr, as we have seen in the past.
