Laraque IS Doing His Job

There has been some talk recently about how Georges Laraque has not done his job since he arrived in Pittsburgh protecting our star players who are still receiving cheap shots and thus is useless or not doing his job. I can’t disagree with this more.

First off, if you say the cheap shots haven’t subsided at all, you didn’t watch the games last year or you are purposefully blinding yourself to what he has done. The amount of cheap shots have decreased significantly since his arrival. No longer are Crosby and Malkin taking shot after shot by everyone and their mother.

Secondly, it’s not Laraque’s sole purpose to keep these things from happening, nor is the responsibility solely his. People say he was brought in here to protect the stars and nothing else. Those people are wrong. Is it his main duty? Yes. Is it his only duty? Absolutely not. Laraque is known not just for being a great fighter, but the fact he can play with the puck; there is more to him than just fighting. He can create offensive chances and isn’t a big liability in the defensive zone like most enforcers are.

If Laraque was so one dimensional, why give up Danial Carcillo and a 3rd for him? We could have had Todd Fedoruk or someone like him for nothing. It’s because Laraque can play. He can take a regular shift with the 4th line, so you don’t have to double shift people at all towards the end of a game when enforcers aren’t needed.

Also, why is it Laraque’s sole duty to stop the shots at the good players? Why aren’t Talbot, Armstrong, Roberts, Hall and Ruutu doing something about it too? Everyone should be sticking up for their teammates, not just the toughest guy. It is more of a concern why no one else is stepping up when Crosby takes a shot than the fact Laraque isn’t preventing 100% of them.

Third, and I want to make this point especially clear, NO ONE PERSON CAN STOP THESE FROM HAPPENING! It’s not possible, it just isn’t. Yet here people are complaining that Laraque can’t do his job because he hasn’t completely eliminated it. That is an unrealistic expectation. Derek Boogaard hasn’t stopped all the hits on Wild Players, George Parros for the Ducks hasn’t done it, neither has Raitis Ivanans of the Kings. No Player X on Team X had been able to do it, so why is Laraque getting criticism for it? This crap happens on every single team in the league, yet for some reason people only want to hold Laraque accountable.

There is also the criticism that Laraque doesn’t fight enough. How often does Brashear fight? Or Parros or Ivanaens? Where are all the fights Boogaard gets in anymore? They’re not there. Just grabbing someone and beating the hell out of them doesn’t always make a difference. Fighters are a deterrent, not a solution.

People also say Laraque is not feared. If so why does no one want to fight him? When in a scrum why does the other guy always skate away? Why is it when a player turns his head and sees Georges coming at him they get an “oh shit” look on their face? Why? Because they know he can beat the hell out of them anytime he wants.

I am not going to deny Laraque needs to fight some more, but you have to understand that him fighting left and right won’t make things a lot better, if at all. Expect more instigator penalties for one. Second, when it comes to guys like Sean Avery, you beat him up and he still goes out and agitates. It’s doesn’t stop it from happening. The best you can do to stop it is a team effort to do it; having one tough guy wont make it stop. It never has, it never will. And don’t go on about Gretzky, that was a different era and not applicable.

So if you think Laraque is not doing his job and having no impact, than you unrealistic expectations. The cheap shots will never stop 100%, and one person definitely cannot stop them from happening. It is not humanely possible.

-Jordan