Once upon a time Craig Ludwig was an anomaly. He wore extra padding under his shin guards, and his legs looked like the lower body equivalent of Popeye's forearms.
Why? Because as a defensive specialist he had made himself into the teams designated shot blocker.
Sure enough late in games you could count on Ludwig to throw himself in front of some MacInnis cannon drive that no other sentient being would even consider trying to stop. And an otherwise medium grade defenseman made himself invaluable.
Nowadays of course even the rawest rookie is expected to hurl his armor coated body in front of every shot. When Edmonton marched unexpectedly to the Cup finals a couple years back one thing everyone remarked on was how few shots were getting through to Roloson. The reason was simple, every member of the Oilers blocked every shot every time they could. They flooped worse then the GM of the Ramapithicines playing soccer.
Does anyone else recall how mechanically timed the Oilers were? How they lay down like bowling pins every time a shot was lined up?
Bob Gainey has the answer - just stop it.
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