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Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
Yep. Anyone who relies too much on stats misses dynamics like big, strong players making your other players feel safer, or bigger or tougher, just cause they know guys like Ferland, Engelland, Bollig and Bouma have their back. Easy to spot which fans don't understand that dynamic as they constantly question the need for those types of players in our lineup.
This is part of why I say you can't scratch the only big, strong, tough defenseman you have. We become too easy to play against back there. That team toughness means something even though you can't measure it easily. Engelland plastering guys along the boards is good for morale. Team morale, fan morale. Engelland stepping in and taking exception to another team's forward running around is a good thing. Having guys like Bollig and Engelland keeps certain players and teams more honest. They are potentially reducing the amount of liberties other physical players will take with our young players.
We need more toughness on the backend not less. We're not going to scratch the only guy providing it, that's silly.
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Plus opposing players try to avoid such bruisers and tend to turn the other way, essentially changing their game. We heard all about that when we had guys like Reggie or even Gauthier back in the day. Not going to show on any stat sheets, that's for sure.