Adams: Fleury Has Been Our Best Player
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- The Craig Adams Show takes place every Tuesday on 93-7 The Fan. Adams told Ron Cook that goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has played unbelievably well.
"He's been our best player this year, and that's saying a lot with the way [Sidney Crosby's] played," Adams said. "Obviously, it helps to have a world-class goalie in Flower there, you know what he's going to bring every night and he was great again (Monday)."
Bruins forward Shawn Thornton was suspended by the NHL for 15 games for his attack on Brooks Orpik. Thornton plans to appeal the suspension. Adams said that the number of games sends a strong message about how the league feels, but the team is more concerned about Orpik's recovery.
"I haven't really over-analyzed whether I thought it was enough, too little, too much, anything like that," Adams said. "I think it's a strong statement and it's over now, and like I said, we're more concerned with how [Orpik's] progressing."
Cook asked Adams for clarification on why Robert Bortuzzo's hit on Toronto's Jerry D'Amigo Monday did not result in a suspension.
"He hits him as square as can be, straight through the body, makes contact with his full body, including his head," Adams said. "You're talking about a 5 or 6-inch height probably difference between those two guys, and that's inevitable even though he's going straight through the center of the guy, chest, everything. In those situations you're going to inevitably have contact with the head, but it's not the primary point of contact or the major point of contact; it's just sort of incidental contact."
Adams added that what the league is trying to eliminate are the plays where the only body part that the player is hitting is the head.
