**** Official 2023-24 NHL Thread ****

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Monticore

English Pro hockey is pretty much a glorified recreational men’s league , going to be a skill gap and try hards with no skill are the most dangerous type of hockey players .

That's where I kept getting to.

We've played with guys like that in basketball or baseball (and if you haven't, you were that guy). I get playing with energy and intensity, I respect it. But to a point. You can't be the guy throwing 80 mph behind a girl that's strayed too far off 1b in co-ed rec league softball. You miss by a little bit and suddenly 'playing hard' leaves a girl in the neurology ward overnight because you didn't throw it where you meant to. Know the situation, know your talent level and don't get people hurt.

This is just a guy who was barely on the fringes of the bottom rung of hockey; essentially semi-pro shit. Who was out there mucking it up and being a goon when he really didn't have much else to offer.

If anyone is to 'blame' it's the guys that rostered a guy like him.

I tried to explain it along these lines "Okay, think of the worst player in the NHL - that guy's better than 90% of say the AHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the AHL. Now think of the worst player in the AHL - THAT guy is better than 90% of the ECHL and orders of magnitude better than the worst player in the ECHL. Now think of the worst guy in the ECHL - if he can't make an ECHL team, he MIGHT end up in the Elite League. If he didn't get a call back from a a more lucrative european/russian league. That's the caliber of talent you're seeing in the EIHL here.

Put it this way - if you lived in a northern state, Matt Pegrave wouldn't be the best skater you know.

A more skilled player just doesn't do that, IMO.