Quote:
Originally Posted by belsarius
My only reservation is the Bowmeester - Phanuef "best defense in the league" fiasco. They look great on paper but I hope (and with Gio in charge I am fairly confident) that it won't play out like they did.
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This sentiment has been tossed around a lot both on here and by other fans across the league on message boards.
The biggest difference is hockey sense. While there was excitement when we put together that d-core with Bowmeester, Regehr and Phaneuf, it's easy to look back and see the biggest difference was hockey sense.
That is something this new group has in spades. They're also much quicker, and move the puck better. It's a group suited much more toward the way the game is currently played.
It's a good cautionary tale to not count your chickens before they hatch, but I'm not worried that our current group will falter just because Phaneuf was a cave-man, Bowmeester was the Tin-Man and Reggie (while a warrior) was more suited to a clutch-and-grab style of play.
I think this current d-core will be very good for a long time.