Quote:
Originally Posted by dino7c
Him, fans, and his dad can blame Burke all they want...1 point and team worst plus minus rating in the AHL.
Maybe Burke was right and he needs to work on his defensive game and maybe just maybe he isn't as good as we all thought
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Being a minus player by no means indicates that he has played poor defensively.
From the games I've watched, it's been far the opposite. He nor his linemates are scoring and they are getting little to no puck luck. Even with 3 more ES goals for, his +/- returns to near the team average (he's also been on the ice for a couple of EN goals against). I think he's been very unlucky not to have at least a few more points.
With that said, he is focusing too much on positioning in his own zone and it's costing him a lot of what made him special in the first place.
The common rhetoric needs to stop. He's just fine defensively. He's consistently the first player in on the backcheck, he isn't making dumb defensive plays or turning the puck over. He's been conservative.