Quote:
Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm
Render and Galaxy-- I'll defer to you guys since you see him more often, but I'd be hard pressed to say Kaleta has a reputation as a brawler.
Shit stirrer, yes. Brawler, no. Brawler to me is someone who answers all or most challenges. The games I've seen, that isn't Kaleta. Sometimes that is smart, I've seen him bait guys. But that doesn't make him a brawler.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Galaxy
I wouldn't call him as a brawler at all. He doesn't fight (if he has to, he's not a good fighther). Others want to fight him, and he has gotten several players to drop their gloves without him dropping his (which has drawn two players this year already to start punching him without Kaleta fighting back or dropping his gloves). He can draw at least one penalty per game). He's a guy who will try to check at any chance he gets (and he's a pretty good at delivering a big hit), get them off their game, and get under their skin (which will lead to stupid decisions by them). What makes Kaleta work is that he stays cool.
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Kaleta is actually quite skilled at fighting, he did it a ton while down at Rochester. When he was brought up he was told to lay off the actual fisticuffs a little because we already have a throwaway player for that in Peters.
Kaleta is first and formost a huge hitter on the ice. He goes out after anyone with their head down and takes out anyone he can that has the puck.
He's built his game around his hitting and other teams go after him because of that. I can't blame him at all for baiting them into being stupid and taking penalties. I'm just glad he does back it up when he has to.