kipwinger

Agreed, there is no deterrent effect from having a fighter. Even back in the old days guys like Brian Marchment, Ulf Samuelsson, Claude Lemieux, etc. had no problem hitting guys dirty and then dealing with the consequences later. If fighting was a deterrent then having McCarty, Shanny, and Kocur on the roster should have ensured that Kris Draper wouldn't get his face rearranged. Alas, it did not.

In that case I think Ras, Kostin, and Fischer are all pretty good at hitting and/or fighting. But I'd also say that Fabbri, Copp, Perron, and Compher are all underrated in that regard. Veleno too seemed to get more physical toward the end of last year. I'm probably an outlier on this, but I think just having bigger, more athletic, guys tends to increase the physical wear and tear on the other team. Sodorblom isn't the "toughest" guy on earth but I guarantee getting run into the boards by him hurts worse than if Marchand did it. Or Brendan Galligher. Or Lemieux. Or many other guys who are noted for their "toughness". In terms of pure, all around, toughness though I'd say Kostin is our main attraction. People are going to be pleasantly surprised by him. I watched almost all of Edmonton's playoff games last year and he was a force. Reminded me a lot of Tom Wilson. Big, strong, fast, mean, can hit, can fight, and loves to do so. He was a monster.

What's tough? Fighting? Hitting? Blocking shots? Does toughness mean that you make the other team fight like h*ll for every single loose puck and in every single board battle? I'm not sure. I think our team a year ago failed at almost all of these, and was therefore not very "tough". But I thought Seattle was a pretty tough team a year ago. Florida too. I think this year's team should be better at all of the above as well.

Slavin is one of the best defensemen in the league right now. What don't you like about him?

I’d smash.

Yep

Speaking of ghosts, Gostisbehere looked really awesome as well. I think our offense is going to be substantially better.

He looked good tonight, created a lot of chances. I could see it.

Danielson with another great defensive play and scoring chance.

To no one’s surprise I think Raymond and Debrincat are too weak on the boards to be on the same line. This game just reinforces that.

When he fills out he’s gonna be a horse. Reminds me a lot of Pierre Luc Dubois.

Danielson! Strips the puck, give and go with Hirose, and he buries it. Coaches are gonna love this dude.

Wallinder is looking really good, Edvinsson too.

I see that Edvinsson and Petry are both in the lineup tonight. I'm really hoping that's a pair two weeks from now.

I agree with most of this but I think you’re underselling how talented we are. Sure we didn’t get top three picks, but we still got the better players. In a redraft the only person that goes higher than Seider is Hughes, so Seider is essentially a top two pick. In a redraft the only guy that goes higher than Raymond is Stutzle so he’s essentially a top two pick. The only guy obviously better than Edvinsson is Beniers. Draft rankings and order go right out the window as soon as the players are picked. We may not have drafted high but we definitely aren’t building around unskilled players.