shmenguin wrote:mikey287 wrote:Marginal hitter? He's a good hitter...
layman question...
glass and adams hit a lot, but we never notice because they all kind of have a "meh" impact. as opposed to vitale who actually doesn't hit a lot, but looks like a wrecking ball when he does. so the question is, how important is it that these hits have some oomph behind them? what's the quality/quantity balance? i remember Pierre used to pump up darren helm in the 09 finals because he was throwing hits all over the place. but it was like who gives a ****, because he was just bouncing off people like a gnat. from my couch, i'd rather see vitale out there hitting than glass - even though he only has half as many hits. is that wrong?
Good question. And no it's not wrong. Some guys don't (or can't) finish checks properly and they serve to merely annoy then to intimidate. First, you must establish the role of the player and his directives on the ice. With Glass, I'd want him to be my "PMD punisher", every time that a defensemen goes back to retrieve a puck behind the net, I want Tanner Glass to eviscerate him. Conversely, I would not ask that of Joe Vitale...I'd ask him to be more annoying than powerful. He's quicker and smarter and his hits and his body are more effective disrupting NZ flow or, on an aggressive forecheck, high DZ breakout tactics.
Getting hit by anyone as big as Glass wears on you, mentally and physically...one thing that people don't often take into account is the mental aspect of it. If Glass really finishes his hits hard in a playoff series, by game 3, Kimmo Timonen is not going to be thrilled with going back there, he's going to rush his decisions, he's going to take a shortcut to avoid taking the brunt of it...we saw this first hand with Sergei Gonchar, a player that was never first to the wall on retrievals, he just didn't like it...
Can Glass be an even more effective hitter? Yes. Should he be during a shortened, tightened regular season? Eh, probably not. There's a high risk of injury when you're wrecking ball. I'd rather him finish people off at an 80% clip in exchange for a 100% clip in the playoffs.
The roles are different between Glass and Vitale. Vitale, as a center, is on the screen more. Glass' biggest hits are after the camera pans away as well. As the F1, he probably has the least defensive responsibility in terms of backchecking on the rink. He cancels out his cover with a body check to the first guy with the puck. Vitale, a terrific worker in his own right, is more likely to break up a play at a point on the ice when it looks more meaningful and thus he'll look better as a result.
Personally, I'm more unhappy with the lack of identity of the fourth line than I am with the play of the fourth liners individually. I think Vitale has been splendid this year and Glass has been above average or thereabouts. We have gotten away from our cycling game and all the worker bees are lost now.
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