"For all those folks who question Zack Stortini's fistic style and wish he'd just step and fire the punches, let Georges Laraque be the judge. He figures Stortini deserves a huge helping of praise for standing in there with The Boogie Man, Derek Boogaard, and all the other large NHL sluggers.

"If you fight a guy who's stronger than you, why would you want to go toe-to-toe and get killed?" said Laraque, the former Edmonton Oilers beat cop, who'll now be looking out for Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev with the Montreal Canadiens. "When I fight Boogaard, I'm not standing back and throwing punches. I mean, his reach is like a mile long. Even though I'm six-foot-three and I have a reputation, I'm coming inside on him. You don't fight for the people ... if Zack wants to go in and hug, that's smart, because Boogaard's reach is so big.

"I admire Zack because he's an agitator and he fights ... it's not easy doing both. But he knows he's not a true heavyweight. He's trying to fill a role and he does a good job at it. Man, he had 25 fights last year. Even in my rookie year as an Oiler, I never did that. I fought 16, 17 times, tops. People should admire Zack for doing what he's doing. If everybody had his heart. ...

"The goal when you fight the big heavyweight guys is to draw. It's all about showing up. That's like a win. Just don't get killed," said Laraque.

Laraque, with Pittsburgh last season, had two huge tilts with the six-foot-nine, 260-pound Zdeno Chara when the Penguins played the Boston Bruins.

"If Charas's job was to fight, he could be the toughest guy in the league, because he's so strong. But, he plays 30-35 minutes a game, he shouldn't be fighting," said Laraque. "If a heavyweight fights him, it takes Chara out of the game for five or 10 minutes. That's a bonus for every team."

DeBrusk happy

Louie DeBrusk is thrilled to be doing the Oiler TV colour on SportsNet this year after four years working radio in Phoenix with the Coyotes.

"This is where I played my first NHL game after being traded from New York, my son (Jake) was born there, I marrieda girl from there. It'll always have a big place in my heart," said DeBrusk, who's replacing Ray Ferraro, who moved to TSN national telecast, working with Chris Cuthbert.

"I've always followed the Oilers. I played six years in Edmonton. They're my son's favourite team. Jake (11) started playing hockey there," he said. DeBrusk, who's also done some TV work for the Coyotes, will do 47 Oilers league games, and one Sept. 30 exhibition against the Calgary Flames, and maybe some pay-per-view."