I agree with this entirely, but also the next post that says they’re symptoms of the same problem. Malkin is hardly a really pugnacious player but he goes hard after the puck and he is always scrumming after whistles. It’s feistiness. Fight in the dog, so to speak. No one expects it to be more than some shoves and some mouthing off but then he also WANTS his puck. Same with Mackinnon. Same with Sutzle. There’s plenty of skill guys, big and small, whom you don’t want in the penalty box OR getting hurt but who show that they’re simply spirited competitors all over the ice, including being a bit lippy or feisty after the whistle. Mika is not feisty or competitive before or after the whistle. He is a talented individual with very nice size who is passive in virtually every thing that he does, and which makes him about 50% as effective as he could be if he just WANTED it.