When the Rangers acquired Brendan Lemieux in the Kevin Hayes trade, there was a very vocal group expressing displeasure in targeting Lemieux instead of a player with more perceived skill to their game. Lemieux is certainly skilled, but also has a grit and pest aspect to his game. The easy comparison is to that of Sean Avery. A pest who can also, you know, play the damn game.
Lemieux only played 19 games with the Rangers, putting up a line of 3-3-6 in a middle-six role. With Winnipeg, he put up 9-2-11 in 44 games while bouncing between the fourth line and a healthy scratch.