I think they need to find a partner to complement him and he will be fine.
Gio had Sarich there on the second pairing for a couple of years and they were very good together. Sarich has also looked very good with Brodie when they have played together.
In fact, side note on defensive pairings and Sarich. I don't get what is going on with him and his coaches. He had a couple of games with 20 plus minutes. First was the Edmonton debacle, he was on for 2 GA, including a PP goal against and then a late one, after everything was out of hand. Meantime, the Wideman/Gio tandem was on for 5 GA, and they were brutal. Then Sarich played a lot of minutes during the SJ game. Yes they lost in the end, but it was the team's best defensive game in a long time. They kept a lot to the outside on Kipper. Then Hartley cuts him back to 12 minutes (against Vancouver - 5 and 26 were on for 4 of 5 GA, 3 and 44 for the other goal). And last game, he gets 9 minutes. Not that it mattered or hurt the team, because Colorado is so bad. But just odd how Hartley is (not) using him.
So when Bouw and Butler played together, lots of GA. Gio and Bouw, lots of GA. Gio and Wideman, lots of GA. And we saw Gio's stats plummet when he was paired with Bouw. Gio has strengths being the mobile guy, but he was staying back as Bouw jumped in all the time.
That is the problem. Out of Bouw, Butler, Gio and Wideman, they all are mobile guys who can jump in, but none of them are solid enough defensively. That is ideal if you want to play run and gun, but you definitely can't do that when you are missing the required centers with a 2 way game.
Anyways, long story short, I hope they figure this stuff out. Brodie has shown a lot of progress and I hope they find a way to pair him with a guy who puts him in a position to succeed.
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