Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonded
He definitely got slagged for being soft. He was tough in the playing through injuries part but he played a soft game.
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Part of it, I think, is that there is a small contingent of hockey fans who think every player over six feet tall should be a face-puncher and call him soft if he plays a different game. I even remember a couple of posts on CP criticizing Zadorov's physical play because he didn't fight enough.
There's more than one kind of toughness in hockey. Joe Nieuwendyk didn't hit much and rarely took penalties, but he took more punishment than most players just from standing in the goal mouth and looking for tip-ins.