Lest ye forget how we got dismantled the last three playoffs by bigger teams, not to mention we are in a new division full of bigger sized teams.herb wrote:Ya know, it is possible to have guys who aren't pussies who are also not terrible NHL hockey players. Alberts and Sestito do not fit that description.SKYO wrote:On the same token, you can't have a team full of pussies either and expect to steam roll over teams, can't win a cup without some size and grit on your DEPTH lines, these muckers provide that.
You say teams don't think Alberts and Sestito are fun to play against? I disagree. I bet teams LOVE when we dress Alberts and Sestito because it's basically a power play for them when either of these guys is on the ice.
Alberts has always taken bad penalties, whether they be in the pre-season, regular season or post season. I don't expect that to change.
So with that I would like having large players who can crash and bang with the best of em on our 4th line and bottom pairing defense, which is what I am referring to ‘not fun to play against’ with the fierce battles along the boards etc.
We have Edler, Bieksa, Garrison, Hamhuis who can play above average offensively, Tanev and Corrado are smart with the puck but most of them have varying skill sets, but we’d like them to stay relatively healthy and not be trying to throw voracious body checks, especially with Edler’s back.
Bieksa is just gritty defensively. Garrison plays an all round game, Hammy is an intelligent dman, which leaves Alberts being our only dman who can throw walloping body checks, plus he’s only making 600K! sheesh!
Alberts is standing out right now due to the preseason where we are not icing a full defensive corps, so he’s getting way more ice time than he should. This was noticed the past few season’s when Alberts gets a lot of minutes is when he’s more prone to make mistakes and get noticed for the wrong reasons, when Alberts is behind 5 dmen is when AA is more than adequate and in his comfort zone!
Sestito has gotten better, he’s even starting to pot some goals now to go along with his gritty play.