McIlrath has literally done nothing physical the entire time he's been with the Wings.
Smith is too fresh of a face. Until he gets into some real NHL scraps, nobody will fear him.
Witkowski skates hard, he hits hard, and he's not afraid to go with anyone. He's a leader and veteran presence in the locker room, and, like Mick says, he makes people feel about 2" taller.
What would I trade for Witkowski? I don't know, but not much. Would I trade McIlrath? Yes. Would I trade Tangradi? Yes.
That's false.
Here's an example of a month ago.
Simmonds hits Hirose near the boards. McIlrath fights him.
Several other times, McIlrath tried to go with guys who refused.
In terms of hits,
McIlrath has had 67 hits in 23 games over the last years.
Witkowski had 67 hits in 34 games last year.
The only thing that Witkowski offers that McIlrath doesn't is a stupidly high goals against average.
McIlrath, who unlike Witkowski was entrusted with PK minutes, has one of the lowest GA/60 on the team at 5 on 5 and on the PK.
McIlrath was at 2.19 this year - a year when most other defensemen on the team have GA's at 3.5 to 4.4.
Best on the team.
On the PK, McIlrath's GA is 7.3. Better than Hronek, Dekeyser, Daley, Cholo, Nemeth and most of the wings PK guys.
Witkowski had the worst GA/60 on the defense last year of any player who played 300 minutes.
As for Smith? Who cares. At best Smith develops into a 3rd line winger who might do some netfront work and some hitting. No reason he can't come to the NHL and play 4th line minutes and begin his apprenticeship.
So, yeah, give me some toughness. But let's use some players who can actually help the hockey team. McIlrath prevents goals against at 5 on 5 and the PK.
Smith can come up and develop his game.
Witkowski sucks
I think people like his beard or something. Or maybe they went to WMU or something.
By the way, Witkowski and McIlrath fought before.
