What is 'the job'? What job is Bollig getting paid to do? How about Engelland? What about McGrattan?
I look at these guys as requiring a few different aspects to their job.
1) Play hockey. Well, obvious one here. Whether or not they are expected to play 2 minutes or 20 minutes a night, they have to do what Bob Hartley has given them the ice time to do. If that means just 'provide energy', then that is what they are doing.
2) Enforcing. I think we all know what this is (and I think this is what this thread is mainly revolved around).
3) Leadership. Everyone talks about the culture of the team, and what that means to the success of this franchise moving forward. I think leadership is a very important on any team.
In regards to leadership, most of the credit is given to Hartley, with the rest being given to Giordano's leadership this (and last) year. However, if you listen to a lot of the interviews and hear what people say about Engelland, Bollig and McGrattan, they are also providing that in spades. We all know about McGrattan. Engelland is apparently a huge leadership guy on this team now. Hartley and some of the other guys have mentioned this from the start of camp actually. Bollig also seems to be one of those consummate team mates, though I haven't heard as much around him other than "he wants to play for the Hawks again one year".
So, have they been doing their 'jobs'? One might question that from all of them being scratched regularly. However, we don't know why they are scratched sometimes, why they play sometimes, and what effect they really have on the team. Until we know what Hartley's 'orders' are for their play, I don't think we can really say they aren't doing their jobs because they aren't fighting. I think it is fair to critique the areas that we do see - their mishaps on the ice, or the overall quality of their 'hockey' play.
I know last season Hartley was quoted as holding McGrattan back quite often. Maybe he is doing the same this year with the rest of them. As another poster pointed out, their PK is not very good at the moment so those instigator penalties are going to hurt. Flames are making a push for the playoffs and they simply can't afford to be sending many messages right now, at least not with a below average PK.
I do think that the Flames want to move away from having tough guys that don't contribute much to the play, however. Look at who they have been drafting lately. Kanzig was drafted not as a heavyweight fighter, but as a defencemen. Smith was drafted with being able to provide the scoring punch - literally scoring and punching. These are two players that have been seeing the opposition's best players on a nightly basis in junior. They also signed guys like Van Brabant, drafted Carrol, traded for gritty guys like Hanowski and Agostino, and absolutely hope for the best in Ferland.
Both Bollig and Engelland were acquired with the intentions that they would be 'everyday players' who can contribute and might even exceed their past plays with increased roles and responsibilities. I don't think that has happened much (I think Bollig has actually played less in Calgary than in Chicago, though I might have to double-check that). Engelland has seen periods of very good play with periods of terrible positioning and defending. Kind of a mixed bag with him so far.
If you are basing a guy like Engelland doing his job or not purely on fights and sticking up for guys, well he has 4 fights (Oct 11 vs Barrett Jackman, Nov 4 vs Liam O'Brien, Nov 13 vs BJ Crombeen, and Nov 18 vs Tim Jackman). That is roughly about on track for around 12 fights or so for the year. I think he was brought in for toughness in front of the net and make sure the crease is respected. I do think he has done that job, but I do think he has made some screw-ups as well. With Hartley having a PMD in Diaz who he likes to play against certain teams, I am not 100% sure that Engelland is getting healthy scratched due to not doing his job or simply as a byproduct of having Diaz around.
Bollig has only fought once (Nov 15th vs Mark Borowiecki). However, last year he only fought 6x with Chicago. I think he was brought in to add toughness along the boards, in front of the opposition net, etc. I also think they expected him to contribute a bit more with possession and perhaps even being a contributing depth scorer (from what I gathered from the interview with Treliving anyways after the trade). I think if that was the case, he wouldn't have been a healthy scratch at all.
McGrattan. Well, we know what his job is. As much as people say "He should stop living by the code", I hope he doesn't. Yes, the code may interfere with his policing at times, but I don't want Calgary to be known as a 'dirty team' that sends out its' goon to throttle the smaller skilled players. I thought what John Scott did was somewhat warranted last year against Kessel and the rest of the Leafs, but look at how that was perceived in hindsight. I just don't think you can ever have an enforcer going out and beating down players any longer. They will simply be tossed out of the league.
A good example of that is our very own Trevor Gillies. Yes, the guy probably has an anger issue judging by that 'fight' he got suspended for at the beginning of the season (and I think it is an UGLY incident). So what do we take away from that? To me, it wasn't just him bouncing the poor kid's head off the ice - I thought that action was just over the top stupid and dangerous. However, just pulling that kid and start feeding him punches? Do you guys really want to see McGrattan pull a guy half his size and start beating him up?
Gillies when he was on the Islanders took a heck of a lot of heat for that Pittsburgh fight. Yep, he absolutely was incredibly 'cheap and dirty', but that was the supposed statement that the Islanders were making that they were no longer going to put up with Pittsburgh's rough play and the lack of calls going their way. I think I understood that game very well and totally see the 'statement' being made on the ice, but that was a heck of a lot of 'ugly' and could have been even uglier than it was. I would absolutely HATE to not only see McGrattan be involved in something like that, but the Flames as well.
The fabled Flames gave vs Anaheim - for the most part, that was fine. I thought it was dirty what Berube did initially, but all the fighting afterward was ok as the opposing coach thought he was pretty smart and tried to catch the Flames with their skilled players on the ice. The Nashville incident? That was fine too I thought. It changed a rule in hockey, but I didn't find it to be 'ugly'. Vancouver? I didn't think it was ugly, and I still bet that absolutely nothing would have happened had Vancouver sent the Sedins out to start the game. I would absolutely hate it if the Flames start being one of these teams that employ toughness as a way to try and injure other players in sending that 'message'.
I think next off-season will be very telling as to what happens with the enforcer role. I do think it is coming to an end, and though McGrattan is a decent skating and decently skilled enforcer, he is not a good 'hockey player' per se. I wouldn't mind if the Flames re-up him for another year to do exactly what he is doing at the moment, as I feel that a 13th forward spot is kind of a waste of development space anyways. This past off-season, many enforcers found themselves without work in the NHL. I am wondering if the trend continues in that direction, or if during the season more 'stuff' happens (like the Lucic running Miller incident in Buffalo) and it makes teams want to add that role again on their teams. I do think the trend will continue in the same direction it did in the off-season, and if so, I don't think the Flames re-sign McGrattan. I just haven't seen Bollig being any more effective in any other area of the ice, however - not in his hockey plays, or his fighting.
Lastly, I thought I would leave this here. It is an interview with McGrattan 5 days ago. I haven't seen it posted anywhere here yet, but apologies if it has been. He speaks about many things in this interview - including his substance abuse issues and how he has overcome them. Also, around the 7minute mark (and where this interview fits in exactly with this thread) it talks about his role on the team and how he goes about doing it the best he can. Also shares insight into Monahan and the rest of the team. Quite a good interview and a look at some stuff that we as fans are not really privy to. I would honestly rather buyout Bollig if needed, and re-sign McGrattan.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/960/the-big-...e-inspiration/
