Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
Agreed.
McGrattan will play 6-8 minutes a night WHEN he is dressed, and that will depend on the opponent. he wont hurt the team as he isnt taking icetime away from "young" guys, he wont hurt the team because wont be taking regular shift, and he will help the team to varying degrees because of the whole nuclear deterrent aspect he can bring.
Nothing changes to any big degree moving forward other than the G's and others can feel a bit more secure that they wont get run over as easily because there will be a reprecussion for doing so.
No down side that I can see.
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McGrattan has played more along the lines of 3-5 minutes per night. And yes there are downsides.
- He hurts the team because he's not even close to an NHL caliber player when he's on the ice.
- He limits the team's ability to roll lines since he can't play a regular shift.
- Playing 4 minutes a night means those minutes have to get filled in by another player. This most likely leads to third line guys playing more than they're capable of.
It likely won't make much of a difference either way, but the fact that this organization still wants to employ hacks like McGrattan is not a good thing moving forward. The only opposition players this really affects are 4th liners - the idea of a nuclear deterrent threat working against quality hockey players blows up when you realize that he has to be on the ice against them to do anything about it.