If rookie winger Jordan Nolan can hold down a roster spot, does that make Kevin Westgarth expendable? Nolan isn’t quite as big as Westgarth — he’s listed at 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, compared to Westgarth’s 6-4, 234 — but Nolan did quite well for himself with he dropped the gloves with Minnesota’s Marco Scandella. Terry Murray publicly talked about his desire to regularly have a “heavyweight’’ presence in the lineup, but since Sutter has taken over, Westgarth has been a healthy scratch in 23 of 32 games. Sutter didn’t put much weight behind the idea that Nolan might fill at least part of Westgarth’s job description.
SUTTER: “It’s a diminished role. It’s like I told those young kids [Nolan and Kyle Clifford], they’re not fighting anybody. There’s like five or six of those guys left in the league, (to play) two or three minutes a night. We’d rather those guys be on the ice, because then we can take advantage of it. If it’s just about staged fighting, I’m not into that. I don’t think Jordan or Cliffy, those kids should ever be in that situation.’’
Incidentally, out of curiosity I looked up Sutter on the website hockeyfights.com. He’s listed as having seven fights in his career, and two of them against the Kings, against Dave Taylor and Jay Wells.
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