Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
Sorry man, but this is some homer shining through. Hedman is better at absolutely everything. Which isn't surprising; Ekblad is still on his ELC - maybe someday he will be better at those facets of the game, or all of them, but he isn't yet, and the next question is going to be if he's an elite level D playing without Brian Campbell, or merely a really good top pairing guy (he struggled, relatively speaking, when paired with Kulikov).
Hedman is a top 5 defenseman in the league and there are no questions that need to be answered in that regard.
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I don't believe that to be true. Ekblad has scored more goals now than Hedman did at the same age, or even the last couple of years. I will grant you that Hedman is the better playmaker and possession driver. However, I think Ekblad is already at the same level, if not better, in his own zone. If he struggled with Kulikov, that's more likely because Kulikov struggles at times in his own end, not because Ekblad isn't absolutely elite.
It's not homer glasses. I see both play regularly and Ekblad is miles ahead of what Hedman was at the same age. Hedman struggled a lot in his first few years, and there was talk of sending him back to junior because he needed to learn the game. Ekbald had no problems playing good defense in the NHL at 18 years old, and is already in the conversation of best defensemen in the game at 20.
I don't go over the moon for players too often. I see warts on my own players easily enough and recognize where they need to improve. I see Ekblad a lot, and I almost never see him make errors, and he often takes the puck away from attackers easily. He hasn't figured out how to transition up ice quickly yet, hence why he was paired with a puck mover, but that will come with time. Once he's past his own blue line, he has elite vision.
The kid is a stud, and will likely be better than Hedman long term. That's coming from a huge Hedman fan too.
