from Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun,

Now a British resident whose exposure to the NHL is limited to morning highlights, the former Flames enforcer took to Twitter after seeing Gaudreau leveled earlier this week by the Leafs’ Leo Komarov.

“How bad does Johnny want a guy on the team to stick up for him? Poor little guy,” wrote McGrattan, quickly adding an addendum. “Back in the day, we would send Komarov back to Russia with a broken face eating ketchup sandwiches.”

Okay, a step back.

This is not a piece suggesting the speedier and more skilled game of today is worse off due to the disappearance of frontier justice-servers like McGrattan. Gaudreau did, after all, snap out of a lengthy scoring funk with an overtime winner Thursday night over the host Ottawa Senators that was his first goal in 12 games.

What it does point out is that the role toughness plays in protecting players of Gaudreau’s size and ilk is very real and is having a significant impact on the way Gaudreau has played this year.

While many wonder whether the weight of a new contract or some personal issues are chiefly responsible for his struggles, it says here teams figured out the best way to neutralize him is to physically abuse his 159-pound frame every chance they get.

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