Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
How do you defend against McDavid? How did the Flames defend against Gretzky in the 80's? They went to war against 99. They physically, mentally, and verbally abused him on the ice. They didn't let him have a comfortable shift at all. Neil Sheehy was always in his face and if he wasn't then Jim Peplinski or Tim Hunter or Doug Risebrough were.
Gretzky still got his points, but he earned it and the Flames were competitive. The 80's Flames were a hell of a lot more competitive against the 80's Oilers than the current Flames are against McDavid's Oilers.
Sam Bennett needs to put aside his friendship with McDavid and turn himself into McDavid's worst nightmare. He needs to get personal, he needs to bully him, he needs McDavid to hate him. They can't be buddies. Be buddies after you retire. You want to beat him, get mean. Get McDavid rattled, his goons will come after you and take penalties. McDavid will start whining like and his focus will deviate.
Flames need to go to war with McDavid and stop being awe-struck by him. He might be the greatest player ever but you can't just sit there and let him make you his bitch.
That's what the Ducks did in the playoffs last year and they shut him down. Flames have to do this every game to him, pre-season, regular season, all star game, playoffs.
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I agree. I get that hitting him is hard but the Flames have to do everything they can to get physical with him within the bounds of the rules and staying in good position. We've seen before that McDavid gets rattled and complains to the refs, Philadelphia comes to mind. The recipe in any sport for trying to contain someone who's clearly better is to get physical with them, get in their head, and don't let them get comfortable and do whatever they want.