noncents
Registered User
- Feb 25, 2022
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bang. there it is. Chmelar sucks now! we're off him. who's next
Prospect Info: Hartford Wolf Pack/Bloomington Bison Thread: Part XV
- Thread starter nyr2k2
- Start date
I like Chmelar. It just seems like a trend. When was the last time the Rangers had a playerwith size that was actually good at fighting and entertaining, Colton Orr, Jason Strudwick era.
Chmelar came up through the Finnish youth system where, like most of the European leagues, you can't fight. Then he went to Providence for two years and in the NCAA, you can't fight. This is the first year he has played in a league that permits fighting. So yeah, it's not something he's going to be good at and it's also probably not something he should waste his time practicing, since he has plenty of other tools that can propel him to an NHL career.
“Tall guy must punch” -Hockey fans unprompted
Btw Tanner Glass played in college and was a tough guy, same with George Parros and Brian Boyle fought and he played in college. Well It would be nice to have a power forward that can do both. I mean those guys still exist. Imagine if the Rangers had another Graves, Iginla, Tkachuk, Jamie Benn those players are still valuable to their team. Btw Jamie Benn was a former 5th round pick. Rangers need to get that level of scouting. Tired of big soft players like K’Andre Miller, Mika, and Kreider nowadays. One reason I hope for a shocking Tkachuk trade. Those players do make a difference more than players like Mika in the playoffs.
Glass and Parros both started in Junior A where they fought. They were on that "track" before going to college. They also sucked otherwise. Boyle started out fighting a good bit but curtailed it for the most part once he got settled in; he had a few years early in his career where it didn't look like he was going to be more than a fourth line guy who chipped in 10 points. Then he has the 20-goal year with us and his game changed somewhat.
Hockey is different now. Fighting is close to an all-time low and may be out of the game entirely within the next decade. But guys like Graves and Iginla and Keith Tkachuk, they came up in a different era and also grew up watching a totally different era. I mean there was a period where every team had like half a roster of guys that would get into multiple scraps each year. That is loooong gone and we'll never see it again.
Jaroslav Chmelar is tough, is physical, and doesn't back down. Whether he is ever a good fighter or not, I don't think that has much bearing on anything as the game is heading in a totally different direction.
Also not to make it a North American vs. European thing but the European players grow up watching domestic players and there are no fights. They're not really exposed to that. They can watch the NHL and hope to see the one fight every three games that occurs now, but that's it. Or go watch old videos. But they're coming from a place where it's not part of the culture. Adam Edstrom is a tough dude, undeniably, but he doesn't fight. Didn't grow up with it. He could learn how to be more effective at it but why? It will happen 2-3 times per year for him, max.
