Quote:
Originally Posted by EddyBeers
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.
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Bouwmweester Hannan
Giordano Sarich
Brodie Butler
Give top units about 22 minutes and Brodie Butter 16 minutes.
Hannan, even if old, was once a top defender who could handle 1st pairing minutes. Maybe not full time 1st pairing so Bouwmeester would get SOME more minutes with Brodie or Butler. Bouwmeeser-Butler cannot be a fulltime pairing.