Quote:
Originally Posted by codynw
I think it's more that he's playing with Engelland than it is him playing without Giordano. Engelland has been better lately, but he's obviously no Giordano.
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Couple of thoughts there. Clearly, any D-man in the league will look worse when you substitute Giordano for Engelland, just going to happen. It's also not wrong though to call out that it is clear, that Brodie's spot on the development curve is likely not as far along as many would have expected now having seen him without Gio. Gio is making Brodie look better at this point than I thought he was.
Engelland has stepped up to his new role better than I would have thought, while Brodie is not stepping up as much as I would have hopped. So it's not all the Engelland factor. Case and point, Engelland had nothing to do with Brodie getting spun around in circles last week on Colarado's third goal, and Engelland wasn't even on the ice with Brodie when he coughed up the puck unforced for the 2nd St.Louis goal earlier this week, Russell was.
The fan base just has their guys. People look to excuse away Brodie's short comings because they have him listed as a key piece of this club moving forward, same with Russell. Makes them feel better about the long term out look if they are able to say things didn't go well because of Engelland or Smid, or even Wideman because they don't have those players slotted in long term for the team.