If George Parros plays Thursday against the Bruins, which should be a given, for if he doesn't then why did we bother trading for him, but anyway if he does, I'd want the coaches to do with him what the Leafs did with Colton Orr in the playoffs last spring. They had him 'shadow' Zdeno Chara, as it were, in the offensive zone, and whenever he had a chance, when the puck was near the Bruins d-man, hit him with a clean bodycheck. Or dirty, whichever.
The rationale is sound: Colton Orr isn't really able to contribute anything in the offensive zone, in terms of being in the right position, make or accept a pass, get a shot on net, etc. What he could do was be near Zdeno Chara, and when the puck was in the area, lay a bodycheck on him. Now, he often whiffed on the check and ate glass, or ended up on his butt, just because he's big doesn't mean he's as strong or solid on his skates as the Bruin, but he's in the ballpark in terms of size, so Mr. Orr actually played an effective role in that series, in that Zdeno Chara's head was on a swivel the whole game. He's not used to being hit, because normal-sized players get hurt when they try, it's useless, so he's gone years playing without fear and with his head down, but a big boy like Colton Orr can jar him. That got the Bruins D-man off his game, you could see him be frazzled, hurry his plays with the puck, get agitated, frustrated.
Zdeno Chara used to be a hard nut to crack, but he's getting older, not as strong and certainly not as mobile as he used to be. Let's have George try to hammer him a couple of times, that's something he can do, and with the other forwards we'll keep doing what we usually do against him, which is skate circles around him and make him look confused and ungainly, and wail like Chewbacca when we score a goal or two against him.
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