Quote:
Originally Posted by doctajones428
Butler is a second pairing D-Man, nothing more, nothing less. His recent play has shown he belongs as a #4 defenseman. Not good enough for the first pair, but he definitely improves when you give him some extra minutes.
People had more than enough reason to trash him while he was on the first pairing with Bouwmeester, but for what kind of player he is and what role he now has, I don't understand the hate train
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I'm not so sure. I think he plays well when he is not required to handle the puck much. When he was paired with O'Brien neither one could move the puck up the ice so they struggled. When he is paired with Brodie he passes the puck off and he will move it up.
I think he is a 5/6th defenseman who needs to be paired with a puck mover so playing him in a top 4 role is working cause our top 4 is filled with puck movers.
Considering Wideman, Giordano, Brodie, Russell and Smid are our d core for the foreseeable future I don't see a future for Butler here for next season unless we can offload O'Brien since you'd figure one of the top7 spots will likely be earned by a youngster soon...
Giordano
Wideman
Brodie
Russell
Smid
Butler
O'Brien
Breen
Cundari
Sieloff
Wotherspoon
Ramage
Billins