Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
And except that, when you look at these types of incidents in general, it is the enforcer that is frequently involved. If you were a betting man that had to lay a bet on the next player to do this type of thing, you're going to put your money down on the enforcer rather than the skilled winger who is counted on to produce offense.
|
False dichotomy. Players of all roles are known to commit these kind of stupid acts. Case in point, James Neal.
Overall, I'd say most of these infractions are committed by guys who can best be described as "rats". They are rarely scorers, but not to often are enforcers either. How many goons/enforcers have gotten suspensions of, say 5+ games in the last few years? Thornton will be one, Scott will be two. Kaleta is a hopeless case who was finally drummed out of the league. More of a rat, but fits this title as well. White and Kaleta last year. The year before, PLLL Carcillo, Shelley. Some enforcers, yes. But they make up a minority of these incidents overall. And really, the skilled guys are hardly unrepresented - Duncan Keith, Rene Bourque, James Wisniewski, James Neal as four examples over the same time frame.