I definitely see it as different...I see it as easy to blast 4th liners...but blasting good players that are at the tail end of their career and aren't what they once were comes off as just mean for the sake of being mean to me? I don't know, a guy that put in 10 good years and slowed down for a couple shouldn't be judged poorly for getting old. But it's easy and nobody ever pushes back.
When a team is underperforming rarely is it the Pandolfo's, Fraser's or Bernier's of the world that need looking at... it's always the guys that are getting the minutes in my opinion. And that is the main point...that is dangerous around here to point to a 1st liner or a fan favorite and say they are the problem.
Most won't do it even when it's so obviously true a blind man can see it.
The problem with these good players that were at the tail end of their careers were that they were still being used too much, sometimes at the expense of better players.
Brodeur started way too many games in 13-14 with a better option on the team, Zubrus was still getting top-6 minutes his last two years here while doing nothing with them. I remember at one point for the longest time in 14-15 he was last in the league in points per 60. Shero told him he isn't playing here that year, despite us still having to have his cap hit on the books the whole year and that was before the 35+ rule was done away with.
And we all saw in 2009 (as someone that wasn't even me brought up yesterday) what having these garbage players like Pandolfo and Madden by that point can do to you at a key time......
Mark Fraser was the worst defenseman I can remember playing here. There were probably guys worse that got a call up or two or lasted 10-15 games, but he played 132 games here over two combined tenures and was one of the worst defensemen I've ever seen. It took Pete DeBoer coming here for both him and his buddy Pelley to fall out of favor. Lemaire loved those two BUMS. And then the joke of the next year was how Mark Fraser on the Leafs led the league in plus/minus at one point in the middle of that season.
This is why whenever I see a bad defensemen, particularly a younger one (like Kevin Bahl this year), I often times compare them to Seth Helgeson or Steve Santini, as no one is coming close to replicate Mark Fraser's SUCK. It's just very hard to do at this level.
My hatred of bad 4th liners goes back 30+ years to when I was on #TEAMNOGOONSEVER! I was a real warrior for goons not being a thing by the early to mid 90's and we shouldn't waste roster spots on face punchers that can't play hockey. Reid Simpson was one of the worst players I can remember seeing put on the Devils jersey back in the 90's. Just a massive liability. He only even 65 games here and I can remember how much I f***ing hated this shit bag player. He should have been a boxer, because hockey just wasn't his thing. Getting these goons out of the game was not at all an acceptable opinion in the 90's, particularly by some rando kid like I was at the time. It took another 15-20 years to really see my wish come true.
