Quote:
Originally Posted by JayP
Are our skilled guys capable of handling the extra icetime on a nightly basis?
Why does he bounce around the league then? If having an enforcer and a nuclear deterrent is so valuable then how does a guy who provides that AND is as good as any other 4th liner in the league not an NHL regular (he has a combined 32 NHL games since in the past two seasons plus this year)? He gets jobs because he fights. When he's not fighting and is actually playing hockey, you could find 3+ lines of forwards on each AHL team that are more effective in those limited minutes.
Well, considering there's not much difference between our top three lines this year, does it matter? And for a team void of top end forward talent, do we have the option to give out more ice time to our 1st/2nd line guys?
Ever hear of this thing called the instigator rule? It isn't the 80's anymore. What has been around for decades might not be relevant in the modern NHL (shocking revelation - I know).
Either way, like I said it's really only relevant if a 4th liner does something. If it's a quality hockey player is stirring up trouble against the Flames, I guarantee the opposition would love for the Flames to match up McGrattan against him so he can act like a pylon and get scored on or "address it" by taking a penalty. If the other guy isn't willing to fight McGrattan, what can he do without putting us down a man? Threaten him?
|
Don't you get it? He's so valuable it took Joe Piskula to pry him out of Nashville.