You Must Be Tough

In this, the second article of my series on the
tough guys in hockey, I am going to look at the importance of
toughness in a team, and ask the question "what difference does
having a tough guy make to a team as a whole".

Firstly I am going to argue that every team needs
an enforcer. There are numerous examples around the league, but as
far as I am concerned the prime one is Buffalo, last season’s
Stanley Cup finalists. Rob Ray provides the toughness, with Paul
Kruse in reserve. This means that not only do opposing players think
twice about roughing up stars like Hasek and Satan, but also means
the GM can fill up the rest of the roster with skilled players. If
you look at the Sabres roster, only Ray, Kruse and Warrener can
fight, but the rest of the team don’t need to. Their final opponents
last year, the Dallas Stars, won the cup without a true
"goon" in the lineup, but they had agitators like Pat
Verbeek, and the defensive pairing of Derian Hatcher and Craig
Ludwig meant that Modano, Hull and company were protected more than
most. Just ask Jeremy Roenick! This year the team also has Chris
Murray replacing Verbeek (Murray is probably a better fighter), and
youngster Jamie Pushor replacing Ludwig. Jeff Odgers, who led the
league in fighting majors last year, plays the same role well in
Colorado, who have more superstars than most teams in the league.
Other enforcers who do a good job include Stu Grimson in Anaheim,
Steve McKenna in Los Angeles and Georges Laraque in Edmonton. I
would say there is definitely proof that teams without an enforcer
will suffer. Last year, despite the offence of Jagr and Straka, one
of the hottest pairings in the league, Pittsburgh struggled at
times, and "super-pest" Matthew Barnaby was brought in to
give Darius Kasparaitus some relief. The fact the Penguins made the
playoffs speaks for itself. The Ottawa Senators won their division,
but without a tough guy at all they collapsed in the playoffs. This
year the management have called up huge Andre Roy, and signed
agitator Kevin Dineen, and the Senators lead their division even
without Alexei Yashin.

However much toughness helps a team however, you
can have too much of a good thing, and it is no coincidence that, in
my opinion, the two toughest teams in the league are also two of the
worst. The Chicago Blackhawks have built up a team with no offense,
very little defence, but with enough tough guys to supply the entire
league. Clark, Probert, Manson, Janssens, McCabe and Brad Brown all
make the starting line up, and then you have Vandenbussche and
Zmolek who play some of the time. However, after the worst start in
history coach Lorne Molleken is realising that you can’t win
anything by toughness alone. The trade of goon Reid Simpson, and
tough defenseman Bryan Muir to Tampa for skillful centre Michael
Nylander confirms this. The other team is the Calgary Flames, who
have slowly been dismantling their cup winning team over the past
decade, and are now left with a young, tough but eventually losing
team. The defence is probably one of toughest in the league, with
wild youngster Wade Belak, veteran Steve Smith, Cale Hulse, rookie
Robyn Regehr and last year team captain Todd Simpson, who was traded
to Florida. Cheap shot artist Andrei Nazarov, defensive centre Jason
Wiemer and Ed Ward provide the toughness in offence. However, as the
Simpson trade again shows, the management are starting to realise
that toughness does not get you winning seasons.

In conclusion, I think that you can definitely
prove that toughness is a vital part of the game, and a team needs
at least one resident tough guy, maybe two to make it through a
season. Tough guys prevent injuries to key players, draw and take
important penalties, make the team feared in other players’ eyes,
and even pop up with the vital goal here and there! But, as much as
a team without toughness has a disadvantage, a team with too much
toughness will never succeed. At the end of the day, a tough guy on
the roster will always be taking up the space for the more skilled
players, and although one or two is necessary, five or more tough
guys will be taking up space, and depriving the team of valuable
offence and defence. At the end of the day, a large part of a tough
guy’s role is protecting the game winners, and in a team with too
much toughness these game winners are too often not in the lineup.