Quote:
Originally Posted by devo22
we all know that Ladislav Smid is not a puck moving defenseman ... no one said he was. You don't have to be a puck moving defenseman to make it as a blueliner in the NHL. Smids bread and butter is blocking shots, killing penalties, playing a physical game. And that's fine, no one expects a 40 point season out of him, you know ...
Also, this part made me laugh:
... isn't that the job of a defenseman? Why would anybody criticize him for that?!? |
Funny, I haven't said anything contradictory to anything you said above. I've actually commented a number of times that Smid is more than useful killing penalties, and can handle himself defensively on the third pairing.
The fact of the matter is that most teams have a number of defensemen who add dimensions beyond that. Defensemen can have numerous job descriptions beyond simply "goal prevention". That is only one side of the ice. A defensemen who prevents offensive opportunities by chipping the puck out back to the opposing team has a lot less value than one who can clear the puck out to one of his forwards (but one could argue the goal prevent aspect is near equal in both examples). Again, I'm surprised you wouldn't detect a difference in those scenarios, and I think if you watch a playoff calibre team that they have numerous defensemen who can do this job, whereas Smid is limited in this category.