Post by Rayven on Apr 9, 2007 23:43:15 GMT -5
New York Islanders -18 fights
Sure they squeaked into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, but at the beginning of the season, guys like Chris Simon, Brendan Witt and yes Rick Berry, were signed to add depth to the toughness of the roster. I mean, Ted Nolan was the coach and anyone who knows about Nolan, he's a sucker for a scrappy player or 12. For a team that had over 35 fights the season before, it should have been a no brainer that 35 would be surpassed by the all star break.
Brendan Witt -5 fights
Witt had probably one of the worst fighting season of his career. Not only did he lead his team in fighting majors, but he lost just about every one of them. Tom Kostopolous probably had a better record than Witt did this year. It all started with a loss to Ben Eager in a fight that Witt didnt even look like he wanted to participate in; until it was too late. He toughed out a draw to Jim Slater and then he went into Carolina and dropped the mitts twice in one game. He fought a close one with Scott Walker and then got edged out by Mike Commodore. Later in the year he laid out Sidney Crosby and had to take on Ryan Malone, who he basically lost to. Witt threw some tremendous hits this season but when was challenged, simply backed down. He turned down Orr, Shanahan and Brashear and for that he gets the big ol F. There is no reason in hell, why his card was so bad and his won/loss record was equally terrible.
Arron Asham- 5 fights
Tied with Witt for the team lead in fights, Asham had a lot to live up to. He went virtually undefeated for the past 2 season with the Islanders and hopefully would continue the streak. But with the likes of Simon and Witt in the lineup every night, Asham may have decided to drop the gloves less this season. Obviously this was the case this. This year was almost a carbon copy of last year with Ash taking on Cam Janssen and Mike Richards for the second and third time. Ash took on Janssen twice last season and decided to match that again this year. When Ash and Janssen get together they alway have a spirited bout. Both times they virtually cancelled each other out with a draw. But again, both fights were great. Mike Richards took another try at Asham this year and at least this time around, he didnt get beat as bad as last year. Again, another good fight between guys who have met a few times before. Another guy on Asham's card from a season ago was Craig Adams, and again Asham came out on top. The only new guy on the block this year was Philly's Darren Reid and Reid got more than he bargained for when he asked Ash to drop the gloves. Asham once again [for the third year in a row] went undefeated but in a more limited role this year. His card was okay but could have been better. Taking into account that most of us realized he wasnt going to drop the gloves as much as previous years and the fact that his card contained Janssen two more times as well as Richards in a return bout, I give Asham a B, borderline B- for inactivity.
Chris Simon- 5 fights
When the Islanders lost Eric Godard to the Flames, Islander fans were on their knees asking the dear lord that one question....."WHY!" Thier prayers were soon answered as Chris Simon was brought in to take his place. Taking a peek at Simons card from last season we saw 10 fights with guys like Hordichuck, Godard, Erskine, Boogaard, Brookbank and Laraque on it. Now thats a pretty damn good looking to me. So basically there was a lot to live up to but Islander fans knew that Simon would come through in the end. How wrong we were. It started off pretty good with a decent scrap against John Erskine but went quickly downhill from there. Simon decided to "play hockey" instead of doing what he was signed to the Islanders in the first place. The few fights he actually had were not only boring but pretty much worthless. Simon turned down Colton Orr and when he cheapshotted Andrew Peters and then skated away from him after Peters asked him to go, people were just shaking their heads. Simon fought Penguin middleweights Chris Thorburn and Ron Petrovicky. Sure he won them pretty easily, but he was fighitng guys out of his class. He pretty much destroyed Mark Fraser after Fraser took out Asham with a hit. Im pretty sure Ash could have taken him out by himslef but Simon figured he needed another middleweight non fighter to take out; which he did with ease. Towards the end of the season he finally took on someone his own size in the likes of Todd Fedoruk. Fedoruk at this point, was a shade of his former self and Simon easily handled him. Simon rounded out his season by trying to chop the Rangers Ryan Hollweg in half, therefore getting suspended for the rest of the season. With Simon out of the lineup teams knew they could take extra liberties with Islander players without having to pay for it in the end. See Colton Orr laying out Yashin after the whistle and Ben Eager cheapshotting Ryan Smyth and knowing that no one was going to do anything about it. Simon gets a clear cut F.
Other fights went to Richard Park Chris Campoli,and rookie Drew Fata, all who had their first career NHL fight. Nothing to write home about in each scrap.
Highlights
* Asham vs Janssen rounds 3 and 4
* Brendan Witt dropping the gloves twice in one game
* 2/17/07 vs the New Jersey Devils
* Notice Im really reaching here!
Lowlights
* Just about the entire season
* Brandon Cullen getting KO'd by Francis Lessard in the preseason and being out the entire year with a concussion.
* The fact that they only fought 18 times
* Chris Simon
Overall Team Grade- F
18 fights this year and most of them were tertrible. Both Witt and Simon [guys who were brought in for toughness] did nothing to scare anyone in the fighting dept. Witt couldnt buy a win this year and Simon decided it was more important to play on the power play then protect his teammates. When he decided to start enforcing, he nearly killed Ryan Hollweg and got suspended. At least Asham is watchable...when he finally drops the gloves. We suck.....
__________________
Sure they squeaked into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, but at the beginning of the season, guys like Chris Simon, Brendan Witt and yes Rick Berry, were signed to add depth to the toughness of the roster. I mean, Ted Nolan was the coach and anyone who knows about Nolan, he's a sucker for a scrappy player or 12. For a team that had over 35 fights the season before, it should have been a no brainer that 35 would be surpassed by the all star break.
Brendan Witt -5 fights
Witt had probably one of the worst fighting season of his career. Not only did he lead his team in fighting majors, but he lost just about every one of them. Tom Kostopolous probably had a better record than Witt did this year. It all started with a loss to Ben Eager in a fight that Witt didnt even look like he wanted to participate in; until it was too late. He toughed out a draw to Jim Slater and then he went into Carolina and dropped the mitts twice in one game. He fought a close one with Scott Walker and then got edged out by Mike Commodore. Later in the year he laid out Sidney Crosby and had to take on Ryan Malone, who he basically lost to. Witt threw some tremendous hits this season but when was challenged, simply backed down. He turned down Orr, Shanahan and Brashear and for that he gets the big ol F. There is no reason in hell, why his card was so bad and his won/loss record was equally terrible.
Arron Asham- 5 fights
Tied with Witt for the team lead in fights, Asham had a lot to live up to. He went virtually undefeated for the past 2 season with the Islanders and hopefully would continue the streak. But with the likes of Simon and Witt in the lineup every night, Asham may have decided to drop the gloves less this season. Obviously this was the case this. This year was almost a carbon copy of last year with Ash taking on Cam Janssen and Mike Richards for the second and third time. Ash took on Janssen twice last season and decided to match that again this year. When Ash and Janssen get together they alway have a spirited bout. Both times they virtually cancelled each other out with a draw. But again, both fights were great. Mike Richards took another try at Asham this year and at least this time around, he didnt get beat as bad as last year. Again, another good fight between guys who have met a few times before. Another guy on Asham's card from a season ago was Craig Adams, and again Asham came out on top. The only new guy on the block this year was Philly's Darren Reid and Reid got more than he bargained for when he asked Ash to drop the gloves. Asham once again [for the third year in a row] went undefeated but in a more limited role this year. His card was okay but could have been better. Taking into account that most of us realized he wasnt going to drop the gloves as much as previous years and the fact that his card contained Janssen two more times as well as Richards in a return bout, I give Asham a B, borderline B- for inactivity.
Chris Simon- 5 fights
When the Islanders lost Eric Godard to the Flames, Islander fans were on their knees asking the dear lord that one question....."WHY!" Thier prayers were soon answered as Chris Simon was brought in to take his place. Taking a peek at Simons card from last season we saw 10 fights with guys like Hordichuck, Godard, Erskine, Boogaard, Brookbank and Laraque on it. Now thats a pretty damn good looking to me. So basically there was a lot to live up to but Islander fans knew that Simon would come through in the end. How wrong we were. It started off pretty good with a decent scrap against John Erskine but went quickly downhill from there. Simon decided to "play hockey" instead of doing what he was signed to the Islanders in the first place. The few fights he actually had were not only boring but pretty much worthless. Simon turned down Colton Orr and when he cheapshotted Andrew Peters and then skated away from him after Peters asked him to go, people were just shaking their heads. Simon fought Penguin middleweights Chris Thorburn and Ron Petrovicky. Sure he won them pretty easily, but he was fighitng guys out of his class. He pretty much destroyed Mark Fraser after Fraser took out Asham with a hit. Im pretty sure Ash could have taken him out by himslef but Simon figured he needed another middleweight non fighter to take out; which he did with ease. Towards the end of the season he finally took on someone his own size in the likes of Todd Fedoruk. Fedoruk at this point, was a shade of his former self and Simon easily handled him. Simon rounded out his season by trying to chop the Rangers Ryan Hollweg in half, therefore getting suspended for the rest of the season. With Simon out of the lineup teams knew they could take extra liberties with Islander players without having to pay for it in the end. See Colton Orr laying out Yashin after the whistle and Ben Eager cheapshotting Ryan Smyth and knowing that no one was going to do anything about it. Simon gets a clear cut F.
Other fights went to Richard Park Chris Campoli,and rookie Drew Fata, all who had their first career NHL fight. Nothing to write home about in each scrap.
Highlights
* Asham vs Janssen rounds 3 and 4
* Brendan Witt dropping the gloves twice in one game
* 2/17/07 vs the New Jersey Devils
* Notice Im really reaching here!
Lowlights
* Just about the entire season
* Brandon Cullen getting KO'd by Francis Lessard in the preseason and being out the entire year with a concussion.
* The fact that they only fought 18 times
* Chris Simon
Overall Team Grade- F
18 fights this year and most of them were tertrible. Both Witt and Simon [guys who were brought in for toughness] did nothing to scare anyone in the fighting dept. Witt couldnt buy a win this year and Simon decided it was more important to play on the power play then protect his teammates. When he decided to start enforcing, he nearly killed Ryan Hollweg and got suspended. At least Asham is watchable...when he finally drops the gloves. We suck.....
__________________