Quote:
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"If people want to screw around, you beat them on the power play. Nobody is going to intimidate [Alex] Ovechkin, [Nicklas] Backstrom, [Mike] Green or Laich or any of those kids. Some teams you have to have it, some teams you don't."
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Keep telling yourself that, George.
The Pens thought the same thing 3 years ago, and after getting tired of seeing Crosby and Malkin take abuse night after night, they went out and traded for
Georges Laraque and
Gary Roberts. They have carried a HW ever since and will carry one so long as Ray Shero is the GM.
George, despite playing in the weak-as-water Southeast Division in terms of toughness, you will still have to play a lot of games against the Flyers, Devils, Bruins, Leafs (who will be much tougher under Burke), your division rival Thrashers and the Stanley Cup Champs, not to mention games vs. Anaheim, St. Louis, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota, San Jose and Los Angeles, all of whom will carry enforcers and most are pretty physical teams. Chicago and Ottawa can turn up the physical play despite not carrying legit HW (assuming
Chris Neil leaves Ottawa), the Isles most likely will carry an enforcer, and the Rangers and Dallas carry the best 2 agitators in the game. Just doing the math off the top of my head, that's over 2/3 of your schedule. You can say that nobody will intimidate Ovechkin, Backstrom, et. al, but that won't mean much when they're taking cheap shots every single night, Erskine or no Erskine. Your team may be talented, but they are NOT Detroit, George.