Going into the last 6 games of an exceedingly tight race with guys like Bissonette, Abbett and now Ryan freaking Hollweg in the lineup makes me queasy as hell.
In 63 games with the Rampage this season, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Hollweg has recorded 9-8-17. He ranks second on the team with 125 penalty minutes.
Last season, the 27-year-old native of Downey, Calif., played in 53 games with San Antonio, posting 4-6-10 along with 93 penalty minutes.
Hollweg signed as a free agent with the Coyotes on Sept. 28, 2009. In four NHL seasons, he has played in 225 career NHL games with the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs recording 5-9-14 and 349 penalty minutes.
If Ebbett, Biz, and Hollweg are in the lineup then I would say forget about finishing 1st in the Division. I guess that having both Hanzal and Korpi out we are automatically out of that race anyhow. What are the chances of Turris playing?
I think this call up is more to make up for Bizs alleged broken nose more than Korpi or Fiddler being out. If either of them are out Turris or Ebbett will just slot right in for them. To my knowledge Hollweg can't play center.
Hollweg plays hard every night down here. I wish him all the best with the recall.
I'll echo that. He's all about effort. I hope he get some ice time tomorrow night. He's a miserable sod to play against. And, I hope he shows up with that cool 'stache.
Hollweg is and has been a better player than Biz, I'm not sure what the whole Biz project has been about. I hope it's over.
Hollweg can't fight. Bissonnette is really good at it. Neither are capable of a regular shift. Hollweg stirs up the opposition and can't back it up. He's not even capable of defending himself, let alone his teammates. Biz is capable of policing the ice or sparking the team with a big fight. Hollweg is capable of sparking the other team by running around, and then getting his ass kicked. Butt whippings don't much get your own team riled up.
That said, I know where you are coming with Biz. He may be capable of policing but he almost never does. He's only a staged fight fighter, which is totally useless.
If I'm going to have a goon, I want one that just does not give a ****. I want a guy that if he sees Kyle Turris or Mikkel Boedker boarded hard by a non-fighter like Jamie Benn, he'll still jump over the boards and beat the dog **** out of him. I want a screw loose kind of guy that just doesn't give a **** about weight class. A guy that is their to police and couldn't give a rat's ass about staged fights. Do they have any of those guys in the minors? There has to be some guy willing to do that job to make 600k instead of 60k a year, right?
We saw Matt Carkner attack Daniel Paille earlier in the year and we saw Trevor Gillies fly over the boards during "fight night". Bissonnette would never do those kinds of things. We need a big, crazy goon that would wipe his ass with "the code".
If that player doesn't exist, than we should just abandon the role. Staged fights do nothing to help the team. The guys who run around cheap shotting are never heavyweights. Heavyweights won't fight those guys. Why have a heavyweight?
I like Brandon Prust a lot. Guy will fight anyone. Problem is that while he destroys middle-weights, he gets KILLED by the heavies.
I have to disagree. The fight biz got into with Columbus sure did spark the team. Not sure if t was 'staged' or not.
But look at the STL game Biss did his staged fight 6 mins into the game the team and the crowd showed they could careless it was a good fight but seemed as it got no one into the game. Then he does a big hit and STL player trys to stand up for his team and biss rocks him that makes a good fight after that the game changed and the team and the crowd was pumped up. That is the kind of fights he needs to do.
That said, I know where you are coming with Biz. He may be capable of policing but he almost never does. He's only a staged fight fighter, which is totally useless.
I thought so too for a while, but now I think he's only doing what the coaches are telling him to do--or more like what not to do. Don't do anything to put the team at a disadvantage. Don't get caught out of position trying to stir something up. If you're going to fight, don't take an instigator to do it. Don't fight if the other guys are trying to mount a comeback. Things like that. I don't get the sense that Bissonnette is trying to re-make himself as a power forward, like Laraque did--he's just trying to be a good soldier.
But look at the STL game Biss did his staged fight 6 mins into the game the team and the crowd showed they could careless it was a good fight but seemed as it got no one into the game. Then he does a big hit and STL player trys to stand up for his team and biss rocks him that makes a good fight after that the game changed and the team and the crowd was pumped up. That is the kind of fights he needs to do.
Maybe if we put Biz's dad in the stands every game like he has the last couple then he'll keep doing the things he should be doing.
Last night i thought he did a great job on the 4th line with biss. You knew when he was on the ice and could make some hockey plays while playing the body. I don't think we can afford a real 4th line when our team needs goals from each line but it was fun to watch.
