The idea for some here is that toughness is achieved by having WWE wrestlers on skates. Policing is pretty much done from the game, yet people will still point to that as if it's some sign of major weakness on the team.
A team with physical players like Kreider, Callahan, Girardi, Staal, Moore, Boyle, Dorsett, Carcillo, McDonagh, etc is more than on par with most teams in the league.
Clearly, this team needs to trade 2 more 2nds for Ryane Clowe.
We lack a Ryan Clowe type on this team. The trade was bad for two reasons. 1) Clowe got concussed and thus is deemed ineffective for us. 2) The trade was already inflated because he was injury prone, aging, and a rental.
Those two factors aside, had we had a Ryan Clowe that hadn't sustained major injuries the past 3 years, one that didn't face 2 concussions to end the season, one that didn't cost as much as he did to trade for... he would have been invaluable to this team.
It's not the physical act of fighting that is important. It's sticking up for your team mates, making that bond closer between you and the other guys. Bigger, grittier players, who hit hard (like Chris Neil) wear out other teams during the course of the game... during the course of a playoff series. Having big guys ourselves helps offset some of that. It helps keep some of those players off the ice for 10 minutes because they're in the penalty box for fighting. It throws other teams' players off their game because they're afraid of being hit or have been hit. If you need evidence of that, Boyle was playing the hockey of his life during our playoff series a couple years back. He wasnt the same after Neil hit him.
You need that in a team. Kreider doesn't grind other players out. He doesn't always finish his checks. You think he's physical because of the occasional "ooooo" hit he makes, but that's derived from his strength, not his intent. Guys like Neil add intent to their strength. Callahan hasn't been the grinder and hitter he once was. He's playing a much more offensive game, which is fine, but still doesn't fit the void we have for such a player. Girardi has more or less given up the physical aspect of his game up. Gone are big hits and fights from his vocabulary. He has a family, understandable. Staal's physicality has reduced since his earlier years. Where's the guy who would go toe to toe with a flying Ovechkin? McDonough? He's a joke in terms of physicality. The only guy with the honor of losing to Sidney Crosby in a scrum. I watched him just watch Simmonds after he intentionally ran over Hank a couple games ago. That's not toughness, that's not grit, that's not even demanding respect. Which gives us Moore, Boyle, and Carcillo. Dorsett won't play over one of them, so he's a non factor in the box. That's 1 physical line that plays 8-10 minutes a game. There's only so much they can do.
You need to add more. It's not enough during a physical playoff series. It just isn't.
Whether it be add Falk in place of Moore or add in a bigger energy guy on the 3rd or 4th line. It just needs to happen.
