So the darlings of the analytic world in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning were swept away by Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round with a little kick to the bum on the way out the door.

They were a joke of a hockey team.

However, analytic dorks kept pointing to Tampa and saying, "See! See! The NHL has changed! It's all about talent and size doesn't matter! SIZE DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN DRAFT THE LITTLE GUYS! SIZE DOESN'T MATTER!"

Wrong.

You hear these analytic nuts on Sportsnet 650 all day claiming the NHL has changed and on TSN1040 - however it's worse on Sportsnet.

Oh the NHL has changed! It's about hockey IQ! Size doesn't matter! You don't need goons! YOU DON'T NEED GOONS!

Uhhh... yes you do.

Matt Martin, New York Islanders, gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a swift kick in the ass on their way to a 4-0 sweep.

Playoffs were never and will never be about just hockey IQs and talent.

It's about hitting, fighting, slashing, spearing, gouging, spitting, biting, kicking (shock!) and anything that needs to be done to win.

It's about Cory Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, Jonathon Teows, Drew Doughty, Mark Messier, Rocket Richard, Tim Hunter, Dave Semenko, John Ferguson - it hasn't changed in 100 plus years. And it's not going to because the size of the playing surface hasn't changed.

Referees can only do so much. It's fair game to bite and fight.

And so when I say to the Vancouver Canucks fans that their team is heading in the wrong direction with Elias Pettersson and Troy Stecher and Quinton Hughes and they have a big fit I say - scoreboard!

Brent Seabrook, Dustin Byfugelin - Chicago Blackhawks. They beat the living crud out of the Canucks.

The closest the Vancouver Canucks got to the Stanley Cup was in 1994 - with Tim Hunter, Sergio Momesso, Gerald Diduck, Gino Odjick, Dave Babych and Shawn Antoski - Scotty Walker if you needed him. Talk about grit.

G
R
I
T

Sure they had Pavel Bure. But ummm, look, but don't touch.

Look at the Columbus Blue Jackets who swept Tampa.
Pierre Freaking Luc-Dubois.
He's now at 6'4" and 225 pounds of "Get the F out of my way dumbass!"
Sure, Tampa was missing Victor Hedman. One of the few players on their team with size. And boy did it show.

Size. Grit.

You can have a Elias Pettersson, or a Stecher or a Hughes - but you can't have all 3. Two have to go.
And you have to fill the roster with Momesso, Diduck, Odjick and Bieksa. If you don't Pettersson or Stamkos can't play their games.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing guys on the radio like Blake Price, Alex J Auld and Satiar Shah saying there's no place for a Matt Martin on a modern day roster.

Oh really? Ask Pittsburgh.

You'd better have more than one tough guy too. It can't just be one tough guy. Has to be a crew.

And Columbus has a crew. The Islanders have a crew.

The game hasn't changed one iota in the playoffs. And it never will.

Toughness matters.

Look at the ONLY Stanley Cup Champions from 1915 in Vancouver.
Winners

Look at these guys. They look like pussies to you?

Pretty tough customers.
If you're looking for what wins - maybe start there - with those guys. 6 time PCHA Champions - Stanley Cup winners playing at Denman Arena on Denman Street downtown Vancouver in front of 14,000 fans indoors. 1915-1928.

Not pushovers.

Analytics shamanalytics.
Enough with that crap already.

Doesn't work in hockey. You need a Cyclone Taylor, a Frank Patrick a Barney Stanley. You need a crew of Raffi Torres - not just one. A crew.

No grit - go home.

If the 2011 team had Cyclone Taylor or Gino Odjick they'd have won a Stanley Cup.