[Sandman]

As I’ve said a million times, until hockey becomes a non-contact sport, size and toughness will always be an important factor in building a winning team- like it or not. Speed and skill are of course the most important, but what do teams look for at the TDL? Usually size, toughness, and secondary scoring. If we don’t get bigger and tougher, teams like the Oilers are going to run over us. You may disagree, but NHL GM’s think like me.

Walker Duehr helps in this regard, but he won’t be sticking up for teammates, and Zadorov is big and physical, so he helps too. Lucic didn’t fight often, but that’s because he didn’t have to- he was a deterrent and made everyone on the bench feel 10-ft tall. I’m not even necessarily talking about fighting, but you need some guys to grill the steaks while other guys fold the pastries.

Edit: I’m talking about functional toughness, not just face-punchers. Watson is a guy who provides size, speed, and toughness, but can also play a regular shift and kill penalties.