Why the Canuck's signing Rousell will NOT make them a tougher team. And put a target on the backs of Petterrson and Hughes
People need to know something about Dominic Rousell....
..He ISN'T a feared tough guy, nobody is afraid to fight him. What they fear is his propensity for dirty and potentially injurious play.
Rousell is waaay more of an Alex Burrows type, sneaky, dirty and has no qualms about hurting you. so if you had visions of Gino Odjick rampaging down the ice, fighting the entire St. Loius Blues team, and WINNING then think again, it ain't happening.
When Rousell does his thing OTHER GUYS are going to have to protect players, he's the type that will take a calm game and get people acting crazy, THAT is when people are going to start taking runs at Petterrson and Hughes, THAT is when Horvat will be forced to fight as people take shots at Boesser, and Horvat WILL fight if necessary, it earned him some respect in his rookie year, and if you notice, he isn't someone who gets picked on. Crosby did the same thing coming into the league, he let people know that if appropriate he's not afraid to go, I think Boesser would have been smart to get a fight in his rookie year, he didn't and was abused, this year that's only going to be more and more likely to happen.
Instead of making the game safer for the Pettersson, Hughes's and Boesser's, a guy like Rousell is going to pin a target on the back of each one of the aforementioned players. This is when you need an old-school enforcer, this is also where you learn Tim Schaller is not that.
An enforcer is not a guy who begrudgingly takes part in fisticuffs once it's too late to turn back. An enforcer keeps track of every hit, slash and cross-check and the moment he sees the ledger sheet too far in favor of the other team he goes into the game and takes a run at a star player, thereby demanding that someone come to fight him.
The opposition (Provided they have someone on the 4th line or 3rd pairing who can fight) is not afraid of the fight, what they are afraid of is the cumulative effect of their stars being run at night after night,
Stars are usually left alone, they are hit and slashed within the course of a game, but the abuse is dictated by the play, if a star is hit its usually because they left themselves open to it and to hit them is the appropriate hockey play. I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about a guy headhunting the star regardless of what's happening,
THOSE hits are often the precursors to injuries, even if they don't cause the injury themselves, the wearing down of top players is of primary concern to ALL NHL teams.
The problem with having a Rousell in the line-up is that he is likely to be THE CAUSE of your top players being targeted. Then when he's in the box, we will need someone to deal with the repercussions, and unfortunately, the best candidate for that is GUDBRANSSON.
So, in conclusion, The Canucks haven't SOLVED the problem of team toughness signing a player like Rousell is only going to make it more obvious.
I sometimes seriously wonder if there isn't something wrong with Benning, at time's I would swear he has the mannerisms, speech patterns and overall behavior of someone for below what should be the average I.Q score of someone his age.....but that's another blog
..He ISN'T a feared tough guy, nobody is afraid to fight him. What they fear is his propensity for dirty and potentially injurious play.
Rousell is waaay more of an Alex Burrows type, sneaky, dirty and has no qualms about hurting you. so if you had visions of Gino Odjick rampaging down the ice, fighting the entire St. Loius Blues team, and WINNING then think again, it ain't happening.
When Rousell does his thing OTHER GUYS are going to have to protect players, he's the type that will take a calm game and get people acting crazy, THAT is when people are going to start taking runs at Petterrson and Hughes, THAT is when Horvat will be forced to fight as people take shots at Boesser, and Horvat WILL fight if necessary, it earned him some respect in his rookie year, and if you notice, he isn't someone who gets picked on. Crosby did the same thing coming into the league, he let people know that if appropriate he's not afraid to go, I think Boesser would have been smart to get a fight in his rookie year, he didn't and was abused, this year that's only going to be more and more likely to happen.
Instead of making the game safer for the Pettersson, Hughes's and Boesser's, a guy like Rousell is going to pin a target on the back of each one of the aforementioned players. This is when you need an old-school enforcer, this is also where you learn Tim Schaller is not that.
An enforcer is not a guy who begrudgingly takes part in fisticuffs once it's too late to turn back. An enforcer keeps track of every hit, slash and cross-check and the moment he sees the ledger sheet too far in favor of the other team he goes into the game and takes a run at a star player, thereby demanding that someone come to fight him.
The opposition (Provided they have someone on the 4th line or 3rd pairing who can fight) is not afraid of the fight, what they are afraid of is the cumulative effect of their stars being run at night after night,
Stars are usually left alone, they are hit and slashed within the course of a game, but the abuse is dictated by the play, if a star is hit its usually because they left themselves open to it and to hit them is the appropriate hockey play. I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about a guy headhunting the star regardless of what's happening,
THOSE hits are often the precursors to injuries, even if they don't cause the injury themselves, the wearing down of top players is of primary concern to ALL NHL teams.
The problem with having a Rousell in the line-up is that he is likely to be THE CAUSE of your top players being targeted. Then when he's in the box, we will need someone to deal with the repercussions, and unfortunately, the best candidate for that is GUDBRANSSON.
So, in conclusion, The Canucks haven't SOLVED the problem of team toughness signing a player like Rousell is only going to make it more obvious.
I sometimes seriously wonder if there isn't something wrong with Benning, at time's I would swear he has the mannerisms, speech patterns and overall behavior of someone for below what should be the average I.Q score of someone his age.....but that's another blog
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