Quote:
Originally Posted by GirlySports
(Ir)regardless of who Bouwmeester is, a coach can't partner a guy who plays nearly 30 minutes with a guy who plays barely 20. Sutter made Butter play 1st pairing minutes which is unfair to him and since he can't handle it, Bouwmeester has to cover him which takes away from his game. It's a double whammie. You can see since both Bouw and Gio are capable 1st pairing D, they can take chances knowing the other can cover.
The pairings now make sense
Bouw-Gio 25 minute guys
Wideman-Brodie 21 minute guys
Smulter 16 minute guys.
|
That is all fine and good, but there is one major difference between this team and last years team.
1) Wideman was not on last years team, so his 25 minutes a game that he is currently getting had to go elsewhere
This was the defence, as broken down by minutes player per game last year
1) Bouwmeester - 25:57
2) Giordano - 23:01
3) Butler - 21:36
4) Hannan - 20:21
5) Brodie - 16:28
6) Sarich - 16:06
7) Smith - 15:56
This year
1) Wideman - 25:04
2) Bouwmeester - 24:40
3) Giordano - 24:16
4) Brodie - 17:03
5) Butler - 15:51
6) Sarich - 13:58
7) Smith - 13:07
Fact is that the main difference is that Hartley has a 3rd horse (Wideman) to go with this year. Last year Sutter could not really have played Bouwmeester or Giordano anymore than he did, and the fact of the matter is that a Bouwmeester Giordano first pairing last year would have really exposed how terrible the bottom four were on last years team in my opinion. It might look good in NHL 13, but if Sutter went with
Bouwmeester Giordano
Butler Hannan
Sarich Brodie/Smith
last year it would have likely been an unmitigated disaster.