The System We Ott Not to Play
Steve Ott is an idiot, yes? We all agree, good.
My personal favourite moment of last night's game was when Steve Ott took his second straight penalty. "Is that on Ott again?" Mickey asked. "Looks guilty to me," Ken said. "Sure does."
It was a great moment for more than just because Steve Ott is a %$#@. It was also yet another lesson from Detroit about how we react to tough guys. Anyone with that sort of complex knows exactly what not to do, harass anyone from Detroit, lest our powerplay get to work (which seems to be steadily improving, although just barely).
Hit the jump for more from Sully:
And sometime in our 6 game losing streak at the start of the year people asked why we didn't get someone with some grit? Some tough guy to teach the other teams in the league that we can't be pushed around. Meanwhile, fans like me relaxed, because we knew we didn't need a long term solution to a short term problem.
The reason I like our ability to still stand down in the face of tough guys to gain a powerplay advantage is not just because it makes people like Mike Milbury's head explode, but because it means we've found yet another way to win. I love this team because we can adjust. We've made fine-tune adjustments all my life, around goal-tending, around the salary cap, around losing Yzerman or any other star player. Adjustments without totally throwing out the script and starting anew and, Bog forbid, missing the playoffs.
Sure, we've upgraded with grit a little bit, our bottom 6 forwards have more depth, our favourite pinko Commie was a good signing and isn't afraid to drop the gloves to show his teammates he cares about his work here, and even Bertuzzi has fought more than any other season I can remember. So did we ever really need a tough guy? I don't know, may we'll still pick one up at the deadline, just for the grueling playoff stretch. But without one to this point in the regular season, we've done pretty well.
Well shit...fail, that was unexpected. Anyway here is the link I was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Ao2G3kmhs
Found this the other day and loved it. Hopefully it embeds right, been having trouble with that.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="/http://www.youtube.com/embed/01Ao2G3kmhs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
What we need is for Anaheim to stop drinking the damn kool-aid and realize they're not going to be in the playoffs so they will trade Selanne to us. We'll give ourselves the best chance to win the Cup if we can land him.
@marti783 and what line would he play on? I Like The White/Lidstrom pairing a lot thank you very much.
@Instinctz Selanne's a forward, dude. He would play on one of our top two lines probably replacing bert or hudler.
Nah, what we need is a gun to put our scoring over the top. We may need a Dman or two come fall, but we have plenty of depth there for now. The last thing we need is a goon.
I agree wholeheartedly with Reddy's sentiment. Ott is a goon, plain and simple. The difference between a physical player and a goon is discipline and respect. The former has those in spades and the latter has no idea of the concept. When our guys drop the gloves, more often than not, it is to defend one of their own. Kronner (though still hotly debated) is one of the best CLEAN hitters in the league. You can be gritty and tenacious but also be an intelligent hockey player who has class, integrity, and respect for the game and other players.
@brandik1313 I was thinking Kronwall the whole time I was reading your post. Honestly I don't think Kronwall's hits are evenly that hotly debated amongst people that actually know and follow the game. I think the color commentator on NBC for the Flyers game that even mentioned that it's amazing how well Kronwall has adapted his hits to be 100% clean since the rule changes.
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An Ott equivalent, this team does not need. We have enough grit in our play, heck when we have to we can lay out the biggest and best of hits. We've got a couple of guys who'll drop em if need be. What we don't need is a goon, theres a difference between grit and goonism (a real word?) .
@Reddy Goonery? I actually think most people opt for "pugilism" in these circumstances, but yes, I agree. And who really, I mean really, wants to step up to Todd Bertuzzi? Other than people with a deathwish?
