No matter how many times people say it, or how loudly they say it, the idea that our problem is that we are too "soft" or "small" shows no knowledge of how hockey games, and Stanley Cups, are won and lost. We have been drafting big, tough players in the first round for years--decades actually -- with very very poor results. Go back and look at the first round picks. Mention two: Komisarek and Hainsey. (And Higgins was regarded as a promising "power" forward in college.) Now ask yourself when the last time was when the Habs had someone in the top ten scoring. Or the top fifteen. Then go back and look at the old dynasties -- for that matter , look at the contemporary dynasties, Pens or Wings or even Blackhawks, though they don't count yet -- and see where their top scorers end up. Notice a pattern? Anyone watching Ribiero in the Rangers series? Maybe miss him, and wonder why we gave him away for nothing at all? (Yes of course he had personality problems; bad teams throw up their hands at personality problems; good teams accept them and win anyway.) Put six big bad tough guys on this team and we will lose in the playoffs anyway. Add a Malkin or a Ovechkin , let alone a Crosby, and we won't. That's our problem; that's our solution. But it's hard -- a lot harder than people who have never played a single game of pro hockey sneering at how "soft" Plekanec is. Trust me, he's approximately ten thousand times tougher than you have ever been or ever will be. You don't get to the NHl if you're not.
