I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers are talking about Edmonton Oilers enforcer Luke Gazdic this summer. People are trying to figure out what the Chiarelli/McLellan era will bring for the resident tough guy in Oil Country. After two seasons with the club, Gaz finds himself in a contract year and at a crossroads.
Zach Laing of Copper and Blue had a good post on Gazdic and his fit on Wednesday, while Jonathan Willis touched on the topic for OilersNation on Tuesday night. Matt Henderson over at HockeyBuzz chimed in on it as well on Thursday in this piece.
Personally, I’m not big on the enforcer role in the NHL anymore. I have time for fighting, it’s part of the game, but I have no time for the staged fight, it used to be a factor, but let’s face it, it hasn’t been for years now.
Does Gazdic Fit:
People who think Peter Chiarelli will just flush the fighter are dead wrong. Chiarelli employed one every single season he was the GM in Boston. Shawn Thornton was the mainstay up front, while guys like Adam McQuaid and Kevan Miller filled the role on the blue-line.
The B’s even had Bobby Robins in their line-up for opening night last season, a player who was an AHL enforcer his whole career prior to his short stint with the B’s.
As for McLellan, well Willis does an excellent job of breaking that down in his piece linked above, I recommend that you read the whole thing to get the entire picture. The short version? When McLellan had enforcers, he played them, but he went a long stretch without having one on the roster.
For example, when Mike Brown was in the line-up last season, McLellan used the player, he didn’t just staple him to the bench.
If the plan is to have a tough guy like Gazdic on the roster, then I think we can expect him to play a regular shift under this head coach. So, does he fit? The track records of the guys in charge suggests that he does.
Does Edmonton Need Gazdic?:
This is going to be a very unpopular opinion among the readers, but I say no, the team does not. Now I’m sure I’ll get the typical “YOU DIDN’T PLAY THE GAME” or “YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, USELESS!” comments, but this is my opinion. An enforcer like Luke Gazdic is not needed anymore.
The ‘he’ll protect the kids’ argument is just not valid. Enforcers don’t protect star players because they do not play with them. Do you think Drew Doughty is going to care that Gazdic is sitting on the bench? Absolutely not, he’s going to staple Connor McDavid and welcome him to the NHL if he can.
Did Shawn Thornton protect Marc Savard from Matt Cooke? Nope. What about Chris Neil, did he protect Erik Karlsson from Matt Cooke? Again, nope. Did Patrick Kaleta protect Ryan Miller from Milan Lucic in 2012? Again, nope!
The NHL is changing. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the NHL was a power-forward game. Bigger players dominated the league, and physical play was much more prevalent. There was less of an emphasis on speed, and more on size. Fighting was common place, and the enforcer had a role.
Since then, the NHL has remained physical, but has shifted to a skilled game the includes more speed. Power-forwards and enforcers are rare breeds now, that’s just a fact of the matter. Don’t believe me? Look around the NHL and count how many teams have an enforcer now. The answer will be not many.
Chicago doesn’t have that player, they just have a lot of hockey players who can fight too. Same thing in Tampa Bay, in Los Angeles, in Detroit, in New York, you get my point.
The Edmonton Oilers need to bring the best 23 players in the organization to St. Louis on October 8th. Call me bold, but I highly doubt that Luke Gazdic will be one of them. Giving a roster spot to a fighter who will only play seven minutes a night for 40-some-odd games just does not seem wise to me.
In the games he plays in, he’s mostly a non-factor as well. Sure, he fights every now and then, but in terms of hockey it’s been ugly. The Oilers are almost always hemmed in their own zone when he goes on the ice. The team is routinely out-shot and usually outscored as well. It’s not a good situation for Edmonton.
Now there was a stretch last season where Gazdic actually played pretty solid hockey, but it did not last, and his play tailed off towards the end of the season again.
Look, I respect Luke Gazdic a lot. The role he plays is not easy, and it takes a massive toll on the mind and body. He seems like a good guy too, that’s not what I am questioning here.
What I am questioning is his worth to the NHL team. He’s not a great hockey player, he struggles with the puck and his defensive game needs a lot of work. He’s an enforcer, one of the dying breed in the game today.
The Oilers need more players like Matt Hendricks, guys who can fight AND play the game, not more enforcers. The Oilers would be far better off keeping Tyler Pitlick, Rob Klinkhammer and Iiro Pakarinen over Gazdic out of camp. That would give them 14 NHL forward options.
In my opinion, the enforcer role is dying and is just not needed anymore. Edmonton would be wise to join the club and send Gazdic to Bakersfield this season. If I were coaching, there would be no room for that type of player on the team.
That said, Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan have almost always had this kind of player on their roster, which makes me think Gazdic will be there on October 8th.
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