Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTuna
They made great moves in the offseason. Robbed for St.Louis blind.
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I hate to steal your thunder and bring stats first but...
http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/20...vs-roman-polak
The general conclusion from PPP can be described thus:
Quote:
Overall, the BtN numbers tell a story of two conservative D-men, one of whom looked mediocre on a great team and who will look WAY WORSE on the Leafs, and another who looked mediocre on a TERRIBLE defensive team, and will probably flourish under less pressure in St. Louis
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Or, perhaps this:
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If you heard about this trade and assumed that that Leafs made a terrible defence corps worse, the numbers will tell you that your assumption was crushingly accurate. Maybe the Leafs are tougher, but they're worse at hockey for it. Maybe Polak can fight David Clarkson again or something. That might be fun to watch.
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Now, Gunnarson's hip is a concern - and PPP notes this - but the fact remains that the Maple Leafs traded one of their top pair defencemen from last year for a guy the team itself figured topped out as a 4-5. St. Louis acquired Gunnarson for
depth.