Excerpt from the the Gazette article by Dave Gross

1. Georges Laraque, Montreal Canadiens

Sporting a title reign longer than a Ken Dryden speech, big Georges seemingly will hold on to the belt until he retires. Minnesota Wild tough guy Derek Boogaard referred to the King as “freakishly strong.” Laraque combines that strength with good balance and knockout punching power.

Rocket:

Sorry Dave Gross, but this is really a meaningless article. Assessing one’s ability with their fists is only relevant if these guys actually got into the ring. Marginally more interesting would be to rank enforcers when evaluating their overall contribution to the team. In that case, is Parros #1 or perhaps Carcillo…or? It is only marginally more interesting because the day of the purely one-dimensional enforcer is quickly passing us by.

Looking back to last year’s Stanley Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings were without a true enforcer. Their opponents, the Pittsburgh Penguins, had an enforcer on their roster but Laraque didn’t dress . The Pens seemed to be far more intimidated by a stiff body check from Niklas Kronwall (ask Ryan Malone) than any goon. In other words, I think that the league is heading in the direction where team toughness is more highly valued than a marginal hockey player who can fight.