This honestly scares the crap out of me. Image via Japer's Rink on SB Nation
Colton Orr and Cam Janssen got into one non-fight and one fight last night in the Blues’ tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The non-fight was a draw and won’t even count toward the totals and the main event was not graded as of “press time”. So I’ll grade it myself – Orr won, hands down. This brings Janssen’s season record to 8-3-3 (after starting 6-0-1, Cam has slipped up a bit!). Since I’m not counting the non-fight, that brings the Blues’ fight total to 52 on the season, still good for 5th place in the NHL. Their fight record slips to 21-17-14.
Within the last week, I’ve picked on divisional opponents and their lack of fighting acumen. I did this only because they are fellow division opponents, and I should be allowed to bust their chops. Plus, when they play us, their physicality tends to trend upward. But with inter-conference opponents, I tend to let things slide. The fact is, anyway, that the Washington Capitals do not HAVE to fight much, because they have several big boys that seem to be able to take care of themselves, plus a few “goonish” players that play well enough away from the scrums to get away with getting important ice time. This leads to a season fight total of only 19, which is “good” for 28th in the league. Their record is less impressive than their fight totals – 5-10-4. This spread is among eight contestants . . . one of which was recently traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets (winger Chris Clark: 6’0″, 196lbs, 0-2-1 with the Caps and overall), another that was acquired in the same trade (winger Jason Chimera: 6’2″, 216lbs, 1-1-0 with the Caps and 1-2-0 overall, day-to-day with a groin issue) and yet one more sent back down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears (winger Alexandre Giroux: 6’3″, 202lbs, 0-1-0).
This leaves us with five Caps who have fought this season, and among them there are two that stick out like sore thumbs: big winger Matt Bradley (6’3″, 201lbs, 2-3-1) and big defenseman John Erskine (6’4″, 220lbs, 2-1-1). Bradley, of course, is the guy who “saved” Alexander Ovechkin from having to fight Steve Downie a few weeks back (I believe Ovechkin would’ve destroyed Downie, but I seem to be in the minority in that assessment – understandable since Downie is a brawler). Neither Bradley nor Erskine are afraid to drop the gloves . . . it just doesn’t happen too often. The other three Caps fighters for the season are center Dave Steckel (6’5″, 217lbs, 0-1-0), defenseman and mispronunciation nightmare Shaone Morrisonn (6’4″, 217lbs, 0-1-0, sat out last game due to illness) and veteran winger Mike Knuble (6’3″, 230lbs, 0-0-1).
If I had my druthers, I’d like to see Bradley square off with Brad Winchester. Winchester has the reach and size advantage, but there’s something (and it may be the above picture) that scares me about Bradley. Honestly, there shouldn’t be a fight in this game, but if there is one, that would be a fun fight to be sure. David Backes could square off against Bradley and I wouldn’t mind it either, except the 5-for-5 trade-off hurts the Blues more than it hurts the Caps if that happens. Since Janssen played last night, it’s likely DJ King’s turn to play, and he would match up well with either Bradley or Erskine, but again . . . fisticuffs aren’t likely in this one.
The Throwdown Lowdown takes a two-week hiatus for the Olympic break, because unfortunately they don’t allow fighting at that level of play. It would be cool to pull off a shocker to begin the break, wouldn’t it?
LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!
Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights
P.S.: I DO intend to find something to write about during the Olympics, but as of yet it is unknown what that will be. – TCA
