So coach T called out the team "soft", who will be our team's enforcer then?

[Kevin Biestra]

15 hours ago, tan said:

Tough. I like iginla type of captain.  Pettersson and Hughes doesn’t look like have that type of leaderships.

 

Linden and Smyl are the gold standard in Canucks history and Iginla led a similar way.  Hell, I think it was Iginla himself that lined his team up to shake Linden's hand after his last game.

 

Those guys don't grow on trees though unfortunately.

 

[24K PureCool]

Enforcers?

Give it up, that kind if hockey is dead. 

[PhillipBlunt]

Joshua is the type of player who'll step up for teammates without hesitation, all the while displaying great speed and decent skill. 

[BCNeil]

I bet Lucic is available.  

[Dr. Crossbar]

I'm thinking we should get this guy as our enforcer ... but Harry is probably too Dirty for this market ...

 

[OldFaithfulCap]

On 2/6/2023 at 2:54 PM, Elias Pettersson said:

Ryan Reaves, Matt Martin, Kurtis MacDermid, Tom Wilson.  I would say if we trade for all of these guys we should be okay...

F tom wilson

[OldFaithfulCap]

19 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Joshua is the type of player who'll step up for teammates without hesitation, all the while displaying great speed and decent skill. 

He hasn't fought since Dec 7 (only about 4 fights this year in total). He really should play tougher than he does with his size.

 

Ergo the mantis.

Edited February 8, 2023 by OldFaithfulCap
MANTIS

[Alflives]

20 hours ago, Muttley said:

At his best, Kevin Bieksa was a good enforcer. Another who didn't play as long as Smyl was Kurt Fraser.

Fraser was a very important player on that top line with Gradin and Smyle. Tough as hell, and was putting up close to 30 goals/season when we traded him. 

[OldFaithfulCap]

If we can get rid of OEL. Myers then we can add a defensive dman who can fight i hope. This roster seems to have no-one. I mean Pettey took a high stick to the face which looked pretty damn deliberate and nothing. Way too much of that this year.

[OldFaithfulCap]

20 hours ago, Muttley said:

At his best, Kevin Bieksa was a good enforcer. Another who didn't play as long as Smyl was Kurt Fraser.

We had guys who would do it if needed though like Willie Mitchell and more fighters like May, Ryp and Brookbank would at least fight consistently.

[-DLC-]

20 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

Linden and Smyl are the gold standard in Canucks history and Iginla led a similar way.  Hell, I think it was Iginla himself that lined his team up to shake Linden's hand after his last game.

 

Those guys don't grow on trees though unfortunately.

 

Iginla was a beast.

 

That moment when he did that spoke volumes about his character...it stood out to me.

 

When we talk about culture, this is part of it. He led with his on ice performance but he also knew that the NHL was a brotherhood and handshakes and respect shown after the game were important.

 

[OldFaithfulCap]

20 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Joshua is the type of player who'll step up for teammates without hesitation, all the while displaying great speed and decent skill. 

My post before was definitely talking about him so far, but with tocchet he may morph into it. He really should as he does have good size.

[Kevin Biestra]

On 2/7/2023 at 10:38 AM, Muttley said:

At his best, Kevin Bieksa was a good enforcer. Another who didn't play as long as Smyl was Kurt Fraser.

 

Between Smyl, Fraser and Williams the Canucks had three Cam Neely / prime Messier / Bob Probert power forward types who could score, hit and fight.  That was a big part of getting to the 1982 final.  Fraser scored 28 goals in a season, Tiger Williams scored 35 and Smyl had 38 goals and 88 points at his peak.  Smyl over 200 PIMs his wildest season and Tiger Williams had nine seasons with more than 290 penalty minutes, four seasons with over 340.  He retired as the all time league penalty minute record holder with a similar gulf between himself and second place that Gretzky enjoys with the points record.  Those were the days.  Those 80s Canucks didn't always win but they didn't give anyone an easy two points.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[-DLC-]

8 minutes ago, OldFaithfulCap said:

We had guys who would do it if needed though like Willie Mitchell and more fighters like May, Ryp and Brookbank would at least fight consistently.

Even Jovo....he was a bit of a madman and I loved that guy. (He and Iginla had a few go's as I recall...spirited tilts)

[OldFaithfulCap]

1 minute ago, -DLC- said:

Iginla was a beast.

 

That moment when he did that spoke volumes about his character...it stood out to me.

 

When we talk about culture, this is part of it. He led with his on ice performance but he also knew that the NHL was a brotherhood and handshakes and respect shown after the game were important.

 

I always enjoyed beating the flames and sutter in the 2000s but I respected many guys on that roster - iggy, kipper, reheghr and so many others were tough and played hard.

[OldFaithfulCap]

Just now, -DLC- said:

Even Jovo....he was a bit of a madman and I loved that guy.

Oh yeah, Jovo was a beast, deadmarsh still feels it.

[Kevin Biestra]

33 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

Iginla was a beast.

 

That moment when he did that spoke volumes about his character...it stood out to me.

 

When we talk about culture, this is part of it. He led with his on ice performance but he also knew that the NHL was a brotherhood and handshakes and respect shown after the game were important.

 

 

Yeah and it started a tradition and lineage.  Having witnessed that, the Sedins lined their own team up for Ryan Smyth's final game.  And then the Oilers lined themselves up for the Sedins' own last game.

 

It would be something if that torch kept being passed somehow before everyone involved retires and breaks the chain...but another thing that doesn't grow on trees is players worth lining your whole opposing team up to celebrate.

 

And rarer still is knowing when it is that moment.  So many great careers end with a mid season waiver (Dave Andreychuk, Jaromir Jagr) or with a summer of no phone calls (Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau) or a cut from a pre-season tryout (Theoren Fleury, Owen Nolan).

 

We were lucky that we knew it was that day with Wayne Gretzky, Trevor Linden, Guy Lafleur (the second time at least), the Sedins and Ryan Smyth.

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[Kevin Biestra]

6 minutes ago, OldFaithfulCap said:

I always enjoyed beating the flames and sutter in the 2000s but I respected many guys on that roster - iggy, kipper, reheghr and so many others were tough and played hard.

 

Yeah I disliked the 1989 Flames for a little while...but looking back the number of individual players on that roster than I respect greatly is one of the deepest of all time in that regard...  Lanny McDonald, Hakan Loob, Mike Vernon, Al MacInnis, Theoren Fleury, Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, Joel Otto, Brad McCrimmon, Jamie Macoun, Dana Murzyn, Tim Hunter, Rob Ramage, Ric Nattress, Stu Grimson, Rick Wamsley, Joe Mullen, Gary Suter.  What a fantastic team.

 

And in the years not long before...  Kent Nilsson, Jim Peplinski, Paul Reinhart, Reggie Lemelin, Dan Quinn, Paul Baxter, John Tonelli, Willi Plett, Eric Vail, Pat Riggin, Bob MacMillan, Brad Marsh, Dan Bouchard, Ed Beers, Don Edwards, Doug Risebrough and for a brief moment our own Bobby Lalonde...

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[Sean Monahan]

On 2/6/2023 at 11:41 AM, Coconuts said:

You'd have better luck building a time machine

 

But I guess Darcy Hordichuk probably isn't up to a whole lot nowadays 

I think Hordy's guided tours business has slowed right down since Luongo sold his place.

On 2/6/2023 at 2:22 PM, Harold Drunken said:

Reaves is pretty useless now days honestly. He'll be out of the league in a year or two.

He's 36, to be fair.

[The Lock]

Enforcers are kind of a thing of the past at this point. Anyone close to being an "enforcer" now typically has more than just the ability to enforce.