Why Sidney Crosby should fight Dan Carcillo

by Parduno on Feb 17, 2011 4:22 PM EST

Before I get into my argument, I would like to start by saying I hope Sidney Crosby a speedy recovery from his concussion...because the Flyers beating the Penguins without him in the lineup just isn't the same.

Fights have been getting a lot of attention this year. It spans from star players fighting to line brawls and even goalie fights breaking out. It got me thinking about Mike Richards comments earlier this year, when he said "I'll fight Matt Cooke if Crosby fights Carcillo."

So why doesn't Crosby fight Carcillo? The obvious answer is simple. Crosby is a superstar, one of the best players in the league, the face of the NHL. Whose Carcillo? An agitator, a cheap shot artist, one of the most hated players in the league. Crosby would be wasting his time fighting a guy like Carcillo.

But Crosby has fought before and he has 5 fights in his career. It is not uncommon for a captain of a team to drop the gloves. It usually happens when his team is playing like crap and he wants to light a fire under his teammates and get his team going. Of Crosby's 5 fights, he did this twice, this year against the Stars, and 2 years ago against the Panthers. (The Penguins lost both of those games by the way.)

So let me propose a hypothetical situation: The Flyers score 5 goals in the 1st period against the Penguins and Crosby wants to wake up his team with a fight, all he needs to do is pick an opponent. Who do you think players on the Penguins hate most on the Penguins? Maybe Mike Richards or Scott Hartnell but I guarantee you that they all hate Dan Carcillo with a passion.

Therefore, if I am a player on the Penguins and I see my captain dropping the gloves with the most hated guy on the team in Carcillo, then I am going to get more pumped up and fired up then if Crosby decided to fight Blair Betts or Andreas Nodl.

It's not uncommon for a captain to fight a agitator. Mike Richards fought Matt Cooke, Jarome Iginla fights Steve Ott all the time, Zdeno Chara has fought a couple of goons (I know its Chara but still), Pavel Daytsuk fought Corey Perry, hell even Ilya Kovalchuk fought Sean Avery and Alex Ovechkin tried to fight Steve Downie one time. If Crosby really wants to wake up his team, he should fight guys like Carcillo, instead of no names who have never fought before.

The funny thing is that if the Flyers were ever killing the Penguins and Crosby fought Carcillo and the Penguins went on to win that game, I would never be able to forgive myself. So on second thought, I hope Sidney Crosby NEVER fights Dan Carcillo.

This item was written by a member of this community and is not necessarily endorsed by Broad Street Hockey.

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Few things:

If Crosby fights anyone its Richie. No one else on the Flyers has a shot of getting to Crosby. No one.

I hope Sidney Crosby NEVER fights Dan Carcillo.

I would pay a lot of money to see that. Carbomb would obliterate him, and get him off the ice for five minutes.

by OrangeNblacK on Feb 17, 2011 4:57 PM EST reply actions

And if you doubt that, watch the Carcillo vs. Marian Gaborik. OUCH.

Maybe it should read "reformedpenguinsfan" since I have retired my Lemeiux jersey ... and purchased an Orange and Black Pronger jersey.

by MaximumTalbot on Feb 17, 2011 9:34 PM EST up reply actions

I would say this is the logic.

Richards has had 23 fights in the NHL during the regular season through 6 seasons, and Cooke has only had 20 fights during the regular season in the NHL through 10 season. Richards is actually a more experienced fighter.

Crosby has 5 fights through 4 NHL regular seasons, where as Carcillo has 72 fights over the course of 5 years of NHL level regular season games.

So I don’t like the comparison for Richards and Cooke. Datsyuk more so got forced in to a fight by Perry (I feel like Perry was going to throw regardless of what happened), and Perry isn’t known for being an agitator/pest like Cooke or Carcillo are, even though he is a prick. Kovie’s incident was stupid, he didn’t even drop his gloves.

I realize this is tongue and cheek, I just wanted to point out the horrible comparisons some people will take seriously.

Geoff has Boosh, Mike's got Powe, Nodl is all mine!
Is this the right room for an argument?

by DLJr on Feb 17, 2011 5:13 PM EST reply actions

Sidney Crosby should never ever fight Carcillo in any situation. There is nothing to gain from it, but a black eye and five minutes in the box. Crosby should never fight period. He’s the best player in the NHL no matter who he fight’s his five minutes in the box is more valuable than the other guy’s. If you need the best player in the league to fight to give you a spark then Bylsma hasn’t done his job.

What can't Giroux do?

by tmurder on Feb 18, 2011 12:33 AM EST reply actions

There are situations ( he has fought before), and like Parduno said, if youre on the bench and Crosby throws down, you know its time to get your head out of your ass.

Man Crushin on Bob since 2010

by orangeandblack20 on Feb 18, 2011 1:45 PM EST up reply actions

thats the point I was trying to get across…you know the players would step up their game if Crosby went toe to toe with someone like Carcillo

by Parduno on Feb 18, 2011 3:19 PM EST up reply actions

You’re forgetting one main point- Crosby is a pussy. He would never fight with Carcillo, especially now since he’s had a concussion because Carbomb would beat the shit out of him and knock him out for the rest of the season so if he did drop the gloves with a Flyer it would be someone he has an advantage over- someone who doesn’t fight much but still a big name, like Briere.

by Kanayd on Feb 20, 2011 8:53 PM EST reply actions

Not much of a commenter, just a lurker, BUT

I would hate to see Crosby fight Carcillo, it’s just another reason to listen for everyone whine about Carcillo (see Gaborik). Plus it’s not really fun to see a real fighter dominate a guy with no business dropping the mitts. Crosby vs. Briere would be great though, Briere isn’t a good fighter, and Crosby can hold his own, but I think Briere could handle himself well enough to make it exciting.

by flyerfan208 on Feb 21, 2011 3:05 PM EST reply actions

What if Crosby won?

I'm kind of a dick.

by Vansteel on Feb 21, 2011 5:00 PM EST reply actions

my whole point is that Crosby doesn’t need to win the fight, its that he’s fighting Carcillo in order to pump up his team. If the Penguins went on to win a game against the Flyers in which Crosby and Carcillo fought, then in a way he would win the fight. Thats why at the end I say that I hope this situation never happens.

But for the record, Crosby would get his ass kicked.

by Parduno on Feb 21, 2011 10:43 PM EST up reply actions