[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

For me, it isn't just about the ability to fight. Rinaldo is a useful player because you really have to be aware of him when he is out there, and seeing him coming at you hard makes you move the puck faster than you want. Plus, you can't really expect Lucic to address everything out there - when the game becomes a bit chippy, Lucic MAY be able to settle it down, but it sure would be nice if the Flames could play a variety of styles. I have always felt that in recent years, this team just performs worse when faced with physical teams playing chippy. Lucic can't bridge that on his own - you need your team to have the ability to play that type of sandpaper game when needed, especially come playoff time.


I definitely wouldn't mind signing Rinaldo for that purpose. Bennett, Tkachuk, Rinaldo, Lucic, Hamonic - that at least bridges the gap a bit, especially when you factor-in that Calgary dresses a number of below average sized players in Gaudreau, Ryan, Mangiapane (and more in the pipeline), a defence that doesn't play rugged (except the aforementioned Hamonic), and even their average to above average players for the most part don't play physical (Monahan, Jankowski, Frolik).



I would love Calgary to be a team that can beat you in different ways and are really difficult to be thrown off their gameplan.

I fully agree with this, the benefit of Rinaldo is that he can skate. There is guys who bang or fight out there that are pylons; you don't get that many hits if you can't skate and can't see the ice. You can bet people think twice about a stretch pass up the middle when he is in a game.