Crombeen acquired from St. Louis

[uf1910]

Originally Posted by KyleFreadrich43

No sir. He will not fight "anyone"....he stays within his size and/or fighting ability.

He was also able to play that type of game because the Blues also had Reaves, Stewart, and Nichol.

I find it hard to believe 2 years ago he found 17 willing combatants looking only within his "weight class" but honestly this doesn't really matter at the end of the day. He fills a need on this team and this roster as our tough guy and I guess we will find out in a couple of months who he is and isn't willing to drop em with.

[Bolts_26]

Could be a good signing. He definetly adds toughness and makes us a harder team to play against.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by timothy

He's a physical forward enforcer type, Alex. Left winger, I think. The only faceoffs he takes are the faces of opposing players.

Got it. So, perhaps he's basically the answer for Parros.

Originally Posted by Coldrice

Can play both wings. Not an overpayment, IMO. Decent 2nd unit PK'er.

This move is, however, yet another roster "body" so that, by my guess, leaves 1 slot open. Correct?

I like the idea that he can play PK - more facets to his game the better.

Originally Posted by timothy

For those of you looking for a scouting report, here's what Forecaster says about Crombeen

ASSETS: Has good size and likes to play a physical, up-and-down game. Has a meat-and-potatoes attitude, defensive acumen and a bundle of energy when on the ice.

FLAWS: Struggles when given too much ice time because of a general lack of top-end skills and offensive instincts. Has a tendency to take bad penalties.

CAREER POTENTIAL: Rugged agitating winger with defensive acumen.

I like the "defensive acumen" part. Hopefully Boucher can whittle down his bad penalty tendency.

[KyleFreadrich43]

He hasn't fought one "heavyweight top 20 fighter" in his career in the NHL, and that spans 80 fights, preseason, regular season, and post season.

The toughest opposition he's fought, was Laperriere, Matt Walker, Konopka and Stortini. 3 of the 4 were his size, the other one, wasn't a good fighter.

Every player he has fought, was a 2nd or 3rd tier guy on his team.

I'm not trying to take anything away from him. I just don't want people spouting false impressions of the guy.

[KyleFreadrich43]

Originally Posted by Alex

Got it. So, perhaps he's basically the answer for Parros.

No.

I like the idea that he can play PK - more facets to his game the better.

Yes.

I like the "defensive acumen" part. Hopefully Boucher can whittle down his bad penalty tendency.

Hopefuly.

[timothy]

When I made the comment about the face-offs, I was just trying to be funny. Not trying to imply that he is a heavyweight.

Freddie is right, he's a middleweight guy. I look at Crombeen as a mid-point between Konopka and Downie. He's a better skater and hockey player than Konopka -- better hockey sense and smarts; skates better; more offensive upside than Zenon; really good defensively; but same size, energy, peskyness and agitation. But not as good in the offensive, skating, playmaking areas as Downie. Maybe that helps. He's solidly 3rd or 4th liner. Not a tweener.

[timothy]

Not sure if it works out this way or if this is Yzerman's thinking, but if Yzerman/Boucher is thinking about a big, meaty, gritty shutdown 3rd line, some top lines would hate to play against

Malone - Thompson - Crombeen

That's a trio of 6'4"/215, 6'0"/210, and 6'2"/212 and tough as nails. Of course, that's predicated on two out of Pouliot, Brown, and/or Connolly emerging as consistent scoring liners, but even if Malone spends time in a Top 6 role, Boucher would still have the option of rolling out the Tank Line situationally.

For an energy/forecheck/pressure line, you still have

Pyatt - Hall - Tyrell

As far as the toughness, it is far better than what we had.

[Matt]

Doesn't matter to me if he's a middleweight or heavyweight as long as he's going to stick up for his teammates if anything happens and be a solid player on the bottom lines. Sounds like that's the case so I'm happy with the move. The moves may not all work out but Yzerman has been very proactive in addressing most of the needs on the club this offseason.

[Bolts4Lyfe]

Thinking he'll probably end up with Thompson, eh?
Along with Brown or Hall? I like this though. We need some extra toughness, and he can drop the gloves apparently.