There was talk early on this week about the Penguins obtaining Tie Domi as Sidney Crosby’s designated protector. Now they don’t have to — André is capable of being the teams strong man and capable of taking a shift for non-grinding purposes as well (anyone else fondly remember his goal to open up the Lightning’s scoring in Game 1 of the playoffs vs. the Islandeers?).
Sad to see you go André and here’s wishing you the best of luck.
Loading ...
3 Comments until now
Wow, big loss in my opinion. He wouldn’t have cost much to keep. But, I’m sure he was looking for a bit more ice time. He had a knack for going out and firing up the crowd and thus the team by laying on two or three smashing checks per shift. The wry smile, the torn pants, he WAS old school hockey. If Andreychuk retires we lose both the fear and respect factor that keeps our goal scorers from getting gunned for. And with us holding the Cup teams WILL BE gunning for us hard against the boards.
I liked André. He brought some respect back to #36 after the failed Barnaby experiment. But like you said - I think it comes down to playing time. He WILL have it in Pittsburgh and in TB he’s not John Tortorella’s favorite forward (though that was supposed to be behind the two of them).
I don’t write off the Lightning with the intimidation / respect factor if Andreychuk retires and with Roy’s departure. There’s just too many players out there that can be had right now that fill these voids. The question is — do we chase them or do we start promoting from within to fill these needs? I’d hate to see Dingman registered as the teams designated goon, but if that were to happen it opens up opportunity for Eric Perrin. If Andreychuk is gone it opens up another load of movement possibilities. Very intriguing.
Intriguing, yes. Perrin getting playing time is a big key to resigning Marty, I think.
“though that was supposed to be behind the two of them”.
Come to think of it, Andre will probably never forgive Torts for leaving him out of Game 7 of the final.