I don't hate Chris Butler; I just think he's a bad defenceman.
It honestly seems to me that every time Butler is on the ice he gifts the puck to the nearest opposition forward. I know that cannot possibly be true, but it sure seems like he coughs the puck up more than anyone else. He averages a healthy 2.63 giveaways per 60 mins (by comparison Brodie averages 2.11, but since he plays an offence-first game it's excusable). He goes for the 'smart' play when he has possession, often attempting to bank it off the boards to a teammate in the neutral zone, but the pass almost exclusively gets intercepted.
He's a liability around the crease, consistently outmuscled and left on his rear end by players of any size or skill level. Albeit I think he has slightly improved in this aspect, there is still an unacceptable amount of slow-motion replay footage in existence of Butler on his @r$€ in the defensive zone.
The only Flames defenceman who has historically been a greater liability is Anders Eriksson. Eriksson universally made Flames fans groan when he was on the ice. Butler is the same. On paper they should have both been good 2nd pairing players because of their athletic abilities, but in the NHL they are(were) just cannon fodder.
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