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Enforcer 2.0


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The Sharks welcome back Frazer McLaren this offseason, who was signed to a one-year deal. The winger spent the last two seasons with Toronto, and replaces John Scott as the team's enforcer.

 

The contract is a two-way deal, but McLaren still requires waivers to move down to the AHL.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

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Nice to see the enforcers getting new teams and deals, it means their still a wanted commodity in the NHL.

 

The NHL has for lack of a better word become to pussified  over the last several years, or decades.

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Well, like any other player of his ilk, if he can do other things besides fight, then he should be an ok addition to the team's 4th line.

 

As we all know, teams are constructed with speed and skill in mind and even a team's "enforcer" has to be able to actually play the game....which is why dinosaurs like John Scott are very few and far between in today's NHL.

 

Mclaren obviously isn't going to bring offense to the game, but I am thinking he should be able to kill penalties or play a good checking game while keeping up with the opposition as a skater (I honestly don't know anything about him other than he racks up PIMS).........otherwise, he will be, as Scott was before him, a waste of a roster spot.

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Sigh. Retread.

 

He better be eating a spot in the Cuda because we have no use for him.

 

I'd much rather Goldobin or Donskoi make the team and give us 4 legit scoring lines.

 

Karlsson/Thornton/Pavelski

Marleau/Couture/Wingels

Hertl/Tierney/Ward

Donskoi/Smith/Nieto

 

Brown/Torres(unlikely to play again)/Goodrow/Goldobin/Meier(hope not, want to see him play another year with my mooseheads).....anyone but Mclaren. We don't need a face puncher. Unless he happen to be decent at hockey and possession at least.

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We don't need a face puncher. Unless he happen to be decent at hockey and possession at least.

 

 That is exactly what McLaren is....a face puncher with no upside whatsoever. He's a very average skater, very close to below average. He has no puck skills, is not fast enough to give you a respectable forecheck...he is basically useless. He is a tough SOB...the only way I can see this working is having him fetch the popcorn for 70 games a year, and bring him out of mothballs when you play a tough division rival. Of course, the toughest division rival is the Ducks...BUT, they have tough guys that CAN skate, so dressing him put the Sharks at a disadvantage from the get go...I just can't see this working. The best thing that can happen is he stinks out the joint in the pre-season and is cut loose. I would not even want him in the AHL, taking up a spot for a developing prospect who might contribute some day, in a way that McLaren could never.

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Man I laugh when I read some of the comments about enforcers.

They have a roll to fill and anybody who thinks differently is fooling themselves.

If there wasn't a need they would have left the game years ago , yet here we are and enforcers are still a part of the game.

Yea yea I know they have been on the decline lately , this however is just a phase to appease Buttman and a few of his sheep GM's.

The enforcer will not go away , as the timid more meek players they protect and create room for on the ice will never go away.

Anybody that thinks intimidation has lost it's place in hockey is sorely mistaken.

Yes some of the highly talented teams can get away without enforcers and tough players but those teams are far and few between and every franchise can't be built using that model.

It for the most part takes a good combination of talent and toughness to succeed , again with the odd exception.

The wings started all this BS with their pussified teams having some success , and is all the more reason to hate that franchise and the Euro influence it brought to north American hockey.

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Man I laugh when I read some of the comments about enforcers.

They have a roll to fill and anybody who thinks differently is fooling themselves.

If there wasn't a need they would have left the game years ago , yet here we are and enforcers are still a part of the game.

Yea yea I know they have been on the decline lately , this however is just a phase to appease Buttman and a few of his sheep GM's.

The enforcer will not go away , as the timid more meek players they protect and create room for on the ice will never go away.

Anybody that thinks intimidation has lost it's place in hockey is sorely mistaken.

Yes some of the highly talented teams can get away without enforcers and tough players but those teams are far and few between and every franchise can't be built using that model.

It for the most part takes a good combination of talent and toughness to succeed , again with the odd exception.

The wings started all this BS with their pussified teams having some success , and is all the more reason to hate that franchise and the Euro influence it brought to north American hockey.

 

I agree completely that enforcers still have a place in the NHL....the problem is, when you have a guy who is just a pair of fists on skates and can do nothing else..... I.E. John Scott, Jody Shelley, Colton Orr, Matt Kassian...heck, even an old favorite of mine, the late Derek Boogaard.

 

Let's face it, in today's NHL, those guys are all more liabilities than assets.

I am NOT saying teams don't need toughness.....far from it....otherwise, rat faces like Alex Burrows, Matt Cooke, and Brad Marchand run the tables.

 

But what I AM saying is, today's enforcers NEED to be able to play the game. Whether that is scoring, checking, top tier penalty killing...while still being able to check in with a bout or two.

Teams simply cannot waste a roster spot on a guy who is basically a pro wrestler wearing a hockey sweater. Just can't have it. Especially if you have real good solid soon-to-be NHL'ers waiting in the wings in Jrs or the AHL who may provide some toughness while still being able to play the game.

 

Brandon Prust, Derek Dorsett, Wayne Simmonds, Milan Lucic, Chris Neil (well in his day...he is getting long in the tooth now), Radko Gudas, Antoine Roussel, BJ Crombeen (underrated PK specialist when he isn't fighting)...those are all good examples of guys who can fight, but still contribute in a positive way to their team, and don't need to be healthy scratches regularly because the coaching staff has nothing for them.

 

So basically, if McClaren is the fight and do nothing else type, then he is a waste of a roster spot....

If he can do the types of things that the guys in the second group can do, then the signing for the Sharks isn't so bad....and I already stated I didn't know much about him, but judging by comments here, he isn't going to be much of a contributor to the actual game of hockey

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I agree completely that enforcers still have a place in the NHL....the problem is, when you have a guy who is just a pair of fists on skates and can do nothing else..... I.E. John Scott, Jody Shelley, Colton Orr, Matt Kassian...heck, even an old favorite of mine, the late Derek Boogaard.

 

 Agree 100%. Those guys you named cannot contribute and are huge liabilities for their teams. For me, it all comes down to spending cap space on players who will not even dress during the playoffs. They are not fast enough to chip in with a forecheck...so when you play a team like the Ducks, whose tough guys can all skate, you are at a distinct disadvantage. John Scott should really not be in the league, he can't skate well enough to be an NHL player.

 

 Enforcers will never go away, nor should they, but there will be a asterek next to them, cause within 2-3 years, they will ALL have to skate at least average and they must be good plus/minus guys who can sustain a forecheck. A guy like Shawn Thornton for Boston was a good model for modern day enforcers. Mean, gritty but can keep up. Shawn is one of the best at what he does, BUT ....if you look at his career stats, he only has 1 goal in 101 playoff games, so yeah, even one of the better goons is a HUGE liability in the scoring dept in the second season.
 

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Man I laugh when I read some of the comments about enforcers.

They have a roll to fill and anybody who thinks differently is fooling themselves.

If there wasn't a need they would have left the game years ago , yet here we are and enforcers are still a part of the game.

Yea yea I know they have been on the decline lately , this however is just a phase to appease Buttman and a few of his sheep GM's.

The enforcer will not go away , as the timid more meek players they protect and create room for on the ice will never go away.

Anybody that thinks intimidation has lost it's place in hockey is sorely mistaken.

Yes some of the highly talented teams can get away without enforcers and tough players but those teams are far and few between and every franchise can't be built using that model.

It for the most part takes a good combination of talent and toughness to succeed , again with the odd exception.

The wings started all this BS with their pussified teams having some success , and is all the more reason to hate that franchise and the Euro influence it brought to north American hockey.

The straight enforcer who can barely play Hockey does not have a lot of leeway to do his thing anymore.

 

If you give me a face puncher who is at least solid defensively I will be happy. But if he can't  do one of: skate and forecheck, play defense or chip in offensively, I don't see a role for him anymore.

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The straight enforcer who can barely play Hockey does not have a lot of leeway to do his thing anymore.

 

If you give me a face puncher who is at least solid defensively I will be happy. But if he can't  do one of: skate and forecheck, play defense or chip in offensively, I don't see a role for him anymore.

I bet McLaren plays when we play Arizona (John Scott).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nah. Donskoi will lace up and just dipsy doodle around Scott.

MAN Donskoi looked good in yesterday's game!

So did Chartier and Roy.

 

We have some good prospects to be excited about, that's for sure!

 

It will be interesting to see how Donskoi, Chartier, and Goldobin play in camp.

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Who is the Blackhawks "enforcer"?

 

Andrew Shaw? Who actually scored 15 goals and had 25+ points last season, with "only 72" PIMs? And had 12 points in 23 playoff games?

 

Daniel Carcillo? Who only played 39 games,

 

Who was the Lightning's enforcer last year?

 

Brendan Morrow!?

 

Who is the Kings' "enforcer"?

 

Kyle Clifford? Who had more points in the Kings' second Cup season than John Scott has in his career?

 

There are your Cup FInalists last season and the last four Cup winners.

 

Heck, even Shawn Thornton brings more to the table than a "pure enforcer" for Da Broons five years ago.

 

The Sharks seem to believe they "need" to waste a roster spot on a pure enforcer.

 

Of course, the Sharks have won one playoff round in three years and have won one Conference FInals game since the lockout.

 

How's that working out for them?

 

Teams don't need straight enforcers, they need players like (Flyers) a Wayne Simmonds or (Broons) Milan Lucic who can drop them as needed but can still score 25+. Or an Andrew Shaw who can at least play a little hockey while "protecting" the "skill position" players.

 

The era of the pure goon has passed.

 

To be clear, I'm all for keeping fighting in the game, but I don't need to see two guys who do nothing else on the ice jump over the boards to clobber each other because someone else on the other team gave a hard check to someone else.

 

Roster spots and cap space are too important to teams that actually win playoff rounds and Stanley Cups.

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@radoran

 

I completely agree with you. I didn't think we needed John Scott, and I don't think we need Frazer McLaren. I don't expect McLaren to make the roster. I think he will be waived and sent to Worcester... I mean, San Jose... 

 

Prior to John Scott, we really didn't have a pure enforcer on the roster all that much, and Scott was just a response to Tomas Hertl getting hurt on a dirty hit. 

 

You also have to remember that the Sharks in the past have not had very much depth in the bottom six. This year is going to be the first year in a long time that the Sharks will probably have too many players to fit into six spots down there. That is much more of the reason why the Sharks could not go very far in the playoffs. 

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