Laperriere Brings Physical Style
The 14-year veteran has averaged triple-digit penalty minutes a year over his entire career.
(from the Bucks County Courier Times)
By Wayne Fish
Bucks County Courier Times
July 15, 2009 - You get a lot of "P's" with Ian Laperriere.
Penalty-killer. Pest. Physical force. Perfect teammate.
The Flyers' new jack of all trades stopped off in town Tuesday and discussed his various roles for next season and there will be plenty of them.
For starters, he can take some of the penalty-killing chores off valuable players such as Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.
"When you overplay those players there is more risk of injury," Laperriere offered. "Those two players play every power play, penalty kill and they play big minutes. When you got guys like me, who can help take some time away from it, I'm sure they welcome that. I've kept my legs. I'm going to help them out being a good penalty killing team."
As for being a nuisance, Laperriere has averaged triple-digit penalty minutes per season his entire 14-year career. And it doesn't sound like he's about to stop now.
On the flip side, Laperriere is one of those guys who's first to rescue a teammate, and that all ties in with the physical force and perfect teammate stuff. He might be small in stature, but he packs a pretty good wallop.
"(If) one of our players is getting a cheap shot on the ice that I don't agree with, I'll be there," he said. "It doesn't mean I'm going to win that fight, but I'll be there."
Laperriere was signed shortly after the Chris Pronger trade. Both bring an attitude to the team. Laperriere chuckled when asked what it will be like playing with Pronger rather than against him.
The two were briefly together in St. Louis in the '90s but for the most part they've butted heads that past dozen years.
"I got a couple scars somewhere on my face (from Pronger)," Laperriere smiled. "It's going to be great (playing with him) again."
Laperriere sees the Flyers as a team that is trying to assemble the final pieces of the puzzle and he hopes Pronger and himself are some of them.
"I was (thinking) like, they are going for it," Laperriere said. "When they called I was even more excited. When they got Pronger, Ray Emery and all those guys and the team they have right now, it shows that they want to win the (Stanley) Cup.
"When they call you and (say) they need a guy like you to do so well, it's flattering. It's a great challenge for me."
General manager Paul Holmgren clearly wanted to add some character players to his lineup. Laperriere would appear to fit that billing.
"He comes to play," Holmgren said. "The fans of Philadelphia are going to love his style of play. His enthusiasm and effervescence of the game is going to make a large impact on our team and our young players."