Quote:
Originally Posted by FAN
Your labels are a bit confusing. What's a middle pairing defenseman? Do you mean 2nd pairing? I assume you are ranking guys based on talent and not their role on the team? So you have Gio as a top 2 defenseman, and Brodie, Wideman, and Russell as a top 4 defenseman?
I know you're trying to be critical of the team's defense, but going by your rankings, the team has a legitimate top pairing defenseman and three top 4 defenseman. You throw in Smid who is a #4/#5 guy at worst, how is that a bad group?
The reality is that Gio isn't in the lineup, Wideman isn't good defensively, Brodie has struggled, Russell isn't a top 4 defenseman on most teams, and Smid is solid and tough to play against but is a 2nd pairing guy at best.
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Well, since there is a top pair and a bottom pair, the middle pair is probably the one in between those 2
. I was just trying to point out that on a good team, the Gio is probably the only guy that is a top pairing guy. Other than that you have Brodie who would likely slot on a 2nd pairing on most teams. Russell, although he's been a pleasant surprise as a 3/4 guy here, is definitely bottom 2 on most teams. Wideman is a legit 3/4 Offensive/PP D-man. Smid is a 5/6 defensive D-man on any other team. Finally, Butler, Smith and Breen sit in the pressbox on a lot of other teams. So essentially what we should have:
1st pair: Gio - ???
2nd pair: Brodie - Wideman
3rd pair: Russell - Smid
7th Defensemen: Butler, Smith, Breen.
But, with an already weak D corps in addition to Gio's injury we forced with a lineup of:
1st pair: Brodie - Butler
2nd pair: Russell - Wideman
3rd pair: Smid - Smith/Breen
Everyone but Wideman and Smid are playing above their ideal slot with no true #1 Dman. Sorry, but no matter who the coach is, this will never be a strong defensive group and is liable to get lit up, as evidenced. Hopefully next year we can have:
1st pair: Gio - Ekblad
2nd pair: Wideman - Brodie
3rd pair: Smid - Ramage/Wotherspoon/Cundari/Sieloff
Not upper echelon, but better for sure. Who knows, maybe Feaster could even get a UFA like Girardi (pipe dream) or Ericsson etc. to round out the defense. Personally, due to the fact that barring any major advances, next years team will also probably be a bottom 5 team, I'd rather use those spots to develop some of our younger guys.