Racki: I’d love to see them add just one extra roster spot even.. all they need. And yes, abolish the instigator already. However, the GMs are apparently in favor of keeping it, which stinks.

And I’m not sure why they wish to keep it. Do they think it will slow down the game if enforcers are brought it? Because really, I see that being the prominent issue.

First a team would bring in an enforcer maybe like Tie Domi’s size then another team would sign a guy that’s Laraque’s size to compete with the other team and then another team would sign a Boogard. Once guys that size are brought in, the common stereotype is that they will end up being slow skaters and only brought in because of their brute force. The overall speed of the team and then in essence, the overall speed of the game would be brought down. If that’s the major issue I can kind of understand it.

Kind of like when the Oil dressed Mac to fight/defend against McGrattan. If McGrattan didn’t dress I highly doubt Macintyre would have dressed either. I was a big fan of Macintyre’s character but not so much his level of hockey. So in that aspect I could see why they are in favour of keeping the rule that and the fact that they’d be ‘taking up’ a roster spot.

I think that issue can be solved though, a team just has to sign a hybrid enforcer, one who can skate and throw their weight/fists around. They don’t have to be Getzlaf, or power forward that can score goals and throw his weight around but someone like Stortini would be perfect for the job. As long as he literally beats his opponents and strikes fear when you know you’ve made a dirty play.

zackman35: I’m pretty sure this was mentioned above but plain and simple remove the instigator penalty. That way if you have a player that gets crushed from a head shot or a cheap shot a teammate can stand up for him and punish the opponent. When Moreau suffered the blow, Storts jumped in and had the right motives however he did not punish. Stortini was taking on more an agitator role than an enforcing role. Now players where to properly enforce I think the opponent would think twice before laying down the dirty play.

For sure zackman. I’m a big supporter of removing the instigator. I think most people know that. I would also say that they need to go back to adding those lost roster spots back to the team. Add two roster spots and get rid of the instigator also be able to ice the extra two like you used to be able to and all this crap goes away in less than two months.

Critics will say it’s a step back, and they are right. That’s the point. The only guys that would dare take shots at Orr are honest players like Quinn, and he had Stan Jonathan waiting for him. That’s what was expected and understood.

Ever since expansion and the introduction of the instigator, the Euro invasion that brought all the stick infractions with them, they really tried to adapt to the mix of new players coming in instead of the players adapting to the NHL like it should have been.

The answer is obvious. It’s not PC though, so Gary won’t even look at it. If Slats was commish, it would get done in a heartbeat. Same with Clarke or Wilson.

When Moreau suffered the blow, Storts jumped in and had the right motives however he did not punish. Stortini was taking on more an agitator role than an enforcing role. Now players where to properly enforce I think the opponent would think twice before laying down the dirty play.