Since McIlrath was drafted all the talk was about how he can knock the crud out of people, he made his name in Jr doing it. They didn't call him the ironwall being a shutdown blueliner, he was the undertaker for knocking people out.
Until the Rangers tell him "stop dropping the gloves" the focus will always be on his pugilistic ways over actually playing hockey and this is a damned shame waste of a 1st round pick.
McIlrath has had 28 fights in 111 regular season games. He's played 2 of those games at the NHL level, one of which he drew a fight in. That's a fight every 4 AHL games and one every 2 games in the NHL.
Comparably, Jared Tinordi has had 17 fights in 144 regular season games and he's played 30 of those games in the NHL, 4 of which he drew a fight. That's a fight every 6.7 AHL games and one every 7.5 NHL games.
Both these players have played the same number of AHL games, they were both drafted the same year and they both have been projected as large, physical stay-at-home blueliners. Montreal moved up to select Tinordi and has been developing in the stay at home role. Meanwhile McIlrath seems to fight at least 50% more often.
In Montreal Bouillion, Murray, and Gorges were all moved out leaving the opportunity for Tinordi to have a real shot at a roster spot come training camp. The Rangers top6 are set and most see Brady Skjei as the next best option coming out of Hartford and he hasn't even played a pro game yet.
Not sure what time, and these things tend to be repeated on NHL Network Radio on Sirius XM in the summer, but I would definitely keep an ear out for this one. Jim "Boomer" Gordon (no relation to Jim "Friend of the Big Whistle" Gordon) does a really good job with these previews.
It's one solid hour on each team (they've been running basically in alphabetical order, two teams per day - Rangers and Nashville are Monday), with minimal commercial interruption. For those of you not familiar with Boomer, he's a very easy listen - knowledgeable and funny.
I quite like Boomer's reviews. A lot more thought is put into them over what the NHL has done here. I especially like the way he tore up the Debbies
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