Can someone explain to me how getting a couple of Matt Martins or *insert minimally skilled plug who hits people* fixes the problem of the team being poorly coached and drilled and players having no idea what they are supposed to be doing and constantly being in the wrong position?
A couple of points on this:
Players have roles and not all of those roles are dangling and toe dragging to generate chances. Playing one's role is an important aspect of a team game, with shutting down other team's top guys actually being part of the equation. Can a player negate his opposite number, generally disrupt another team's better lines, win their matchup territorially? Some of that is retention of the puck and how to best keep the puck from the front of one's own net. I would assert that one of the best ways to do that is to work a strong cycle on the forecheck. Making the less risky play to put a puck below the goal line and trusting one's linemates to work a disruptive forecheck that keeps a team pinned in their own zone is a skill that a lot of people just don't appreciate because it isn't as easy to see as a goal. That isn't necessarily just from someone who hits nor is that a Matt Martin type exclusively.
Then there is another aspect that seems to get left out, and that's the idea of pulling a team into the fight. Guys who hit often will engage the crowd at home. It can be infectious, drawing one's teammates into things. Competitive people get their blood up and it builds on itself. So for a team that struggles to have the fans engaged, in a town that absolutely adores the physical side of the game, to have the team essentially completely ignore the physical part of the sport is self-hobbling. They don't get the fans out of their seats on a big hit, they don't get the other team off their game looking for revenge, and they don't get their sleepy asses into the game right away. From a fan support standpoint, embrace the dumb. Embrace the barstool guy who is always complaining about some player not hitting or being tough or whatever by giving them some of those guys who are very much that to keep those folks engaged and entertained while the high-skill guys can go do their thing.
Yes, the coach doesn't require it and appears to openly allow them to avoid it so some of the guys won't do it. I'm not thinking Dakota Joshua in Buffalo is going to have over 200 hits (or even four fights) this year. But it's how he's wired and what he does and would likely be how he approaches playing.
And from a defensive standpoint, it still looks like a team that is willing to put a body on a body in the defensive zone to knock down their check has an easier time disrupting in-zone flow and overload attempts because someone has to pick themselves up off the ice to get back into the play. They don't have to chase hits, but when they are there, finish them and reap some of the reward.
Yeah, that didn't work either.
