[News] Tousignant Is A Pest

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by Volica

A good agitator will fight actually.
However, he won't fight people who don't mean anything. i.e If he can make another teams best player get so annoyed they want to square off, then he's won by all means. Him sitting for 5 minutes, means nothing; however, a star player sitting for 5 minutes does hurt.

I think Calgary's been missing a real agitator for a while now. I like the guys who play on the edge, because they change the dynamic of the game. As long, as you said, he's not Cooke-ing anyone; I'd be more than happy to have this guy in the AHL.

Can you give any examples to back this up? Every good agitator that comes to mind is not a fighter. They are top 9 forwards that can score goals and get the other teams top players off their game.

If he can do that at the AHL level, by all means this was a good signing as the Flames don't have enough d-bags on the team right now. It's no secret the Flames main goal is getting smart players with great leadership qualities and it doesn't hurt to diversify.

[AC]

Steve Ott, Matt Cooke, and Corey Perry come to mind.

All will fight, though Perry and Cooke do stay closer to the agitate-but-try-to-not-fight side of things.

But yes, I'd say most agitators are effective because they don't fight actually (the Lapierre types).

Edit: though apparently Cooke hasn't fought since 2010-2011. So #### that guy.

[Poe969]

Exactly what we're all saying....Someone who will fight if forced but doesn't have a lot of fights. Someone who makes other teams good players fight but can still play top 9 and even if they're not putting up points they play a big role in the game.

[DropIt]

I'd love to have to finally get another pest on this team. We havent had one since Ville Nieminen. One of those types that you hate on other teams but would love on your own is exactly what we are missing.

[Volica]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon In Flames

Can you give any examples to back this up? Every good agitator that comes to mind is not a fighter. They are top 9 forwards that can score goals and get the other teams top players off their game.

If he can do that at the AHL level, by all means this was a good signing as the Flames don't have enough d-bags on the team right now. It's no secret the Flames main goal is getting smart players with great leadership qualities and it doesn't hurt to diversify.

You don't have to look very long, or hard.
Brad Marchand; 3 fights from the past 3 seasons:
Mike Ribeiro, PK Subban and Matty Niskanen; all prominent parts of their teams; all fights you clearly take if you're Marchand. You don't see a goon in that name list.

Take a look at Max Lapierre in the height of his peskiness, two years ago.
Justin Abdelkader (who was only 24 and was 'breaking' at that time), Colin Wilson (Nas potential Center star at that time), Matt Stajan (Calgary's '#1" center, Polak and Clutter... All of those fights, that year, have Max Lapierre, a guy who was playing a total of generally 11 minutes of hockey a night; fighting guys who play much more valuable minutes for their teams than he does.

Agitators fight. They just fight the right people. A good one will go out and find a dance partner if that means that it'll get him off his game, it will take him out of the game and allow his team to progress.

[Poe969]

Marchand is the perfect example of this. I would love to have him on the Flames or hope that Tousignant turns into something like him. The kid can play hockey but more importantly other teams HATE playing against him. 3 fights in 3 years...That is awesome as I'm sure he has drawn a lot of penalties.

[calumniate]

I was thinking more like Antoine Roussel