The Loop
Brendan Lemieux blocking consecutive shots and hobbling like a wounded deer looks PAINFUL
Just like the other three major sports, the NHL has become an analytics-driven league. Rosters are now almost completely comprised of skilled skaters and players who can produce offensively, leaving almost no room for so-called "enforcers," or less-skilled players who make their impact in more physical ways.
However, as New York Rangers left winger Brendan Lemieux showed on Tuesday night, there are still a handful of first-team, All-grit guys in the league. During the Rangers rivalry game with the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night, Lemieux blocked a pair of slap shots from the point, each one inflicting an immense amount of pain that essentially caused his legs to stop working. Watch Lemieux lay his body on the line and, as a result, hobble around like a wounded deer:
Cripes, I need an ice bath just from watching that. As for Lemieux, not only did he stay on the ice to get clapped by a puck again, he made it to the bench and was back on the ice once he regained feeling in his legs. He'll likely be very sore on Wednesday, but he will 100 percent be ready for the Rangers next game on Friday night against Pittsburgh. The rest of us peons would probably not be able to move for at least seven days. Hockey players are built different, part 1 million.