Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
I am not here to defend Ritchie but in what world can Phillips fill his role?
Richie isnt a point producer, but he is sound defensively and is vary hard to play against because of his size and how he uses it. Its a role Darryl Sutter deems essential to make his teams successful. MP cannot do those things..period. It would be a complete waste of his real talent to even try him there. I think that much is obvious.
If he is on the team it has to be in a top 2/offensive line role. Who are you bumping to make room for him while remembering who his coach is?
If (god forbid)a Dube/Mangiapane/Gaudreau go down with injury then sure....call him up and let him have a go at things. Until such an opening exists though, there is no point and would see him watching from the press box which does neither him nor the team any favors.
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Phillips doesn't "fill" Ritchie's role, he establishes his own role based on his net positive contributions on the ice. And he is perfectly fine defensively.
If you go back to the Mangiapane - Ryan - Hathaway line you have a prototype for how a 4th line needs to play. You can't fill the role of any of those indoviduals but you can certainly have a line makeup that brings the same aggregate attributes. Put a responsible vet like Pitlick or Lewis alongside Phillips and Ruzicka and let them establish their niche.
Because Brett Ritchie's niche is not helping.