I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to.
Someone has previously stated that Ras is one of the most physical players on the team. If it wasn't you and I'm confusing you with someone else, I apologize. I assumed it was the same person making that claim but there might be two?
Even if it's the only time you've made the statement, it's still false.
If you're wanting citations proving Ras doesn't bring more physically than any other player on the team, Seider and Kasper have more hits than Ras. It's a bad metric for physicality but even using the one most advantageous to Ras, it's false. Other players who bring more physically include Seider, Chiarot, Fischer, Motte, Watson, Shine, Smith...
My comment was asking for proof that we have more physical forwards. I ask for that because he consistently is among the top couple of forwards in Hits. If you're going to argue he isn't among the most physical forwards on the team the last 4 years bring something to the table to support that claim.
As a point of clarity, in previous posts I've called him the most physical forward. He's nowhere near Seider/Chairot, or even Edvinsson's level. Admittedly, I was still posting within that context and I don't think I noted that distinction in the post you quoted, so apologies for the miscommunication there on my part.
As a matter of fact, Adam Erne is the only Detroit Red Wings forward has put up more hits than Rasmussen more than once. Ras is always in the top 2 or 3 for forwards in hits.
Motte is not physical at all.
Ill concede guys like Watson and Shine are "more physical" but they are AHLers so who gives a f***. Smith? Craig? definitely not. Giavani, I guess, but again, he can't hold down an NHL roster spot so who cares.
Kasper's emergence has been nice. I look forward to the day when we have multiple NHL forwards who are consistently more physical than Rasmussen. We're not there yet but Kasper is a nice step in that direction. FWIW, Ras put up more hits/60.
If we want to be a more physical team, the most effective way to get there is start by shipping out the least physical guys, not one who is always at the top of the forward group in hits.
Again, I'm not arguing he's a monster but I disagree with making him the whipping boy. Berggren, Tarasenko, Motte, Smith, Veleno, Fischer all contributed less to this team. Guys like Copp, Compher, don't bring much physciality at all.
He has scored 15g ONCE and has never reached 35pts…
You're technically correct. Personally, I think its more nuanced than that. For example, in terms of win contributions, is there a material difference between scoring 33 points in 75 games and 35 points in 82 games?
Further, he has 49 goals in his last 288 games. So he has scored 15 and he averages 14 goals every 82 games. He's put up 110 points over the same period. That's 31 points every 82 games. He put up 29 in 56 games during the covid season and followed it up with a 33 point season. If you want to hold a global pandemic and a season where he came 2 points shy in 75 games against him, have at er. I'd argue that if you dwell to much on those platitudes you're missing the capability of the player.
FWIW, These numbers includes this most recent season which actually drags the numbers down a touch as it was his worst season since establishing himself as a full time forward. I think he can bounce back to that form he's demonstrated the previous 3 seasons.
