Adrian Dater
The day of the “tough guy” in the NHL was supposed to have expired by now. NHL teams don’t need a physical guy who fights a lot, the analytics men and women knights of the keyboard explained, because it’s all about speed and skill now and that’s it. Quick, someone from the analytics crowd, message Joe Sakic about this. He’s standing by to take your call.
Not.
Call it the revenge of the dinosaurs. Hockey, the decision-makers of the sport have had their brains reinforced lately by the facts on the ice and not from the nerds with their spreadsheets, is still a very physical game that requires tough, physical men to win games. One of the underreported trends of this NHL offseason has been how teams such as the Colorado Avalanche came to realize this again, and why they went out and got a guy like Kurtis MacDermid this summer.
One striking thing Sakic said in an offseason press conference was his belief that his players didn’t “stick up enough” for each other this past season. The Avs were supposed to be the most talented and skilled and wonderful team ever, but the fact is this: they got bullied physically by the Vegas Golden Knights in their second-round collapse following a 2-0 series lead. Some of their top players were roughed up by Vegas, and there was nobody, really, to stand up to the bully.
Remember when Ryan Graves was hog-tied to the ice by Ryan Reaves in one of the playoff games, and was laying on the ice seemingly unconscious with blood on the ice? The only player on the ice who deigned to give Reaves even as much of a shove was Joonas Donskoi. The rest of the Avs just stood there. That was greatly noted in the Avs’ management suite. And, look who won the series from there…
Deny it all you want but: Size and strength still matter in hockey. If you can’t win in the sub-category of physicality and toughness, you’re not going to win, period. All the fancy skill in the world isn’t going to matter if your players are afraid of the bully on the other side. See: Gretzky, Wayne and Semenko, Dave.
The Avs should have had a badass tough guy lay some wood to the Golden Knights after that Graves incident, but instead, they shrank from the situation and blew the series. Captain Gabe Landeskog tried to be the tough guy in the first round against St. Louis, and he did a great job with that (remember the fight with Schenn?). But you can’t have the captain of the team as your enforcer. When the Avs met Reaves and the Golden Knights’ other really physical guys, they couldn’t play their fancy game as easily anymore. And, they lost.
The Avs need a badass enforcer again, and so let me introduce you, Colorado Hockey Now readers, to MacDermid, who took some time out of his schedule Monday to talk to me:
“If I can provide more room for MacKinnon and Rantanen and Landeskog – everyone – and have them not look over their shoulder as much, having them know I’ve got their back no matter what, I’m the guy,” MacDermid said. “I will want the opposition to second-guess their decision to take any liberty with my teammates.”
The thumbnail profile on MacDermid: 27 years old, came up through the Los Angeles Kings organization as a defenseman. Established himself as a very physical player, at 6-foot-5, 233 pounds. Provided physical protection for a Kings team that didn’t get beat up much, but also didn’t win enough. MacDermid’s pure on-ice stats weren’t great, when it came to plus-minus and puck possession. So, is this too much of a kneejerk move by Sakic, thinking that every team needs a “fighter” instead of 12 good “hockey players” on the top lines?
Good question. By the way, MacDermid, who has always been a defenseman in his career, will welcome a move to depth forward – as the Avs have indicated might happen, to get him more game action.
“Whatever I can do to help the team,” MacDermid said. “If they need me to make that good first pass out of the zone as a defenseman or get in hard on the forecheck as a forward, then I’ll do it.
MacDermid said he has never played at forward before, but that “I have been working on some things this summer to open up that door. I completely embrace it. It brings more opportunity.”
MacDermid was made available in the NHL expansion draft by the Kings, and the Seattle Kraken used their Kings pick to get him. MacDermid was making plans to move to Seattle when Kraken GM Ron Francis called him: Thanks for your service here, but we’ve traded to you to Colorado.
“It was a shock. I was expecting that,” MacDermid admitted.
A couple days later, the native of Sauble Beach, Ontario, was better able to rationalize things.
“For a team like Colorado to trade for me, that made me feel good. You realize it’s a business, but Colorado is a really good team that can win a Stanley Cup now. So, to be part of this team now is a great feeling,” MacDermid said.
MacDermid said he doesn’t fear the narrow corridor that often is the career of an NHL fighter. That said, he does want to be known as a hockey player first, tough guy second.
“There’s always going to be that stress, I don’t care who you are,” he said, of being a “tough guy” in the NHL. “But if you can get over those nerves, it can really fire up the team and change the momentum of a game. If it’s not needed as much against some teams, then you adjust. But if it’s needed, I’m ready.”