I don't think we did much to change the hardness/softness factor honestly. I think we just rearranged the furniture.
Dillion is a plus for sure but he's replacing Bahl who had 151 hits and 82 PIMs and killed penalties... Dillon is no doubt a significant upgrade but it's going to be at the same 3LHD slot doing the same exact thing albeit better and heavier. There is no wealth to spread here with this add. And it's still only 1 physical Dmen of 6. The one of 6 that probably will get 5th minutes.
Pesce for Marino does little to nothing in the hardness factor.
Over the last two years we lost Wood and McLeod and we are basically replacing them with Lazar and Noesen...I'm not sure we are gaining anything at all there, in fact it's probably a bigger loss than anyone is willing to admit.
But the real issue from my POV is softest part of the team has pretty much been exactly the same for a number of years... adding to the defense year after and shuffling bottom 6 forwards does not address the soft top 6 that gets the vast majority of the minutes. Meier definitely helps, but he hasn't been the force we need him to be since he's gotten here... I think a little more help is needed for guys like Jack and Bratt.
Edit: and I absolutely do believe PIMs are an indication of aggressiveness. Highly aggressive players take more penalties. And taking penalties because your aggressive and playing with an edge is absolutely not a bad thing. We need more of it.
IMO, he's talking to his team when he's doing these press conferences. He's telling Jack, Timo, etc. that he wants them to be more physical. That there's currently a softness to their game and he wants them to fix it.
From Fitz's actions, it's clear that physicality isn't the only thing he's looking for. At this point, this is Fitz's team.
- Of this year's signings, only Noesen and Dillon are physical. Pesce and Tatar are not.
- Fitz traded physicality in Bahl and Zetterlund when there may have been other options (Casey instead of Bahl; Holtz instead of Zetterlund)
- Fitz extended Meier and Bratt
- Fitz signed Hamilton and Palat, drafted Nemec (instead of Jiricek), etc.