Throwdown Lowdown – Maple Leafs @ Blues 2-12-10
Colton Orr is often seen doing this. Image via thetelegram.com
The Detroit Red Wings DID relent and fight in their game against the Blues on Tuesday. Yes, it was the shards of Brad May’s career that fought our own Brad Winchester. It was scored a draw, and rightfully so as no one really landed anything solid. The fight pushes Winchester Cathedral up to 3-1-4 on the season. That is now 51 total fights by Blues players this season, still 5th in the league. Their fight record is now 21-16-14 on the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most violent teams in the Eastern Conference. GM Brian Burke has worked to assemble his squad with players that largely assume his own persona – grit, toughness and strength, namely. He had success with this in Anaheim and he may well gain success with this type of maneuvering in Toronto, but as of yet it has not resulted in a lot of victories. No less, you can pretty much peg the Leafs for at least one, if not several, fights per game. They are 9th in the NHL with 44 fights on the season and they sport a solid-if-not-spectacular 16-16-12 fight record according to the good folks at Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights. 13 Leafs have fought this season, but only eight of those players are currently with the club.
You see the visage of winger Colton Orr (6’3″, 222lbs, 4-4-7) and you see what I’m talking about with Burke and the type of player he likes. Orr was signed basically to fill the same role as Dave Semenko did for many years with the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the mid to late 1980′s – keep opponents away from his team’s stars (Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Fuhr, Coffey, etc.) by blasting the other team’s goons out of the way. In that, Orr leads the team in fights. The man who was second, winger and my former Favorite Current Blue Jamal Mayers (6’1″, 214lbs, 5-1-2 with the Leafs and 6-2-3 overall), was recently traded to the Calgary Flames as part of a monster trade you may have heard about. Defenseman Jay Rosehill (6’3″, 195lbs, 3-2-0) is third, but he is currently with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. Other Leafs with multiple fights include injured Team USA defenseman Mike Komisarek (6’4″, 243lbs, 0-1-1, done for the season with a shoulder issue) and defensemen Garnet Exelby (6’1″, 215lbs, 1-2-0), Leafs blog favorite Luke Schenn (6’2″, 216lbs, 0-3-0) and Leafs blog least-favorite Jeff Finger (6’1″, 205lbs, 0-2-0). Also, recently-acquired defenseman Dion Phaneuf (6’3″, 214lbs, 1-0-0) fought twice while still with Calgary. He is 1-0-2 overall.
Orr will go with just about anyone. The trend lately has been for coach Davis (Earl of) Payne to only play one of either DJ King or Cam Janssen. Expect Orr to fight with whichever one of those two Payne decides to suit up. I would also not be opposed to Winchester getting involved with Orr or any secondary Leafs fighters that may play. I say this only because other than Phaneuf, the other secondary fighters have been consistently shuffled in-and-out of the Leafs lineup as of late.
Two more games until the Olympic break, and this one appears to be the more winnable of the two. Go get two tonight, boys.
LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!
Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights
