[Poe969]

To people saying that Wideman has been "atrocious"...really? 5 points in 6 games for a defenseman is bad? And if you say that his defensive game has been bad then you'd better say that Gio, Russell and everyone else have been bad too. Wideman isn't on the team to be a shut down guy, he never has been that sort of player and to expect that now is wrong. Wideman is here to get points from the back end and he does that quite well. He's paired with Russell who's supposed to be a shot blocking "shut down" kind of guy and that's why the two of them worked so well last year. Wideman isn't playing different then he was last year when everyone was praising him. He looks "bad" now because Russell isn't playing the game he should play, the game that made the 2 of them work so well together. Sure, Wideman has made some gaffs so far this season but so has everyone on this team. If you think Wideman is bad now for playing the same game he was last year, you probably have the wrong kind of expectations for him.

I think Russell has been worse than Wideman because Russell isn't playing the same kind of game that made the team better. I think Russell is playing decent but he's playing a different game than he was last year. I think he's trying to be more offensive because he's likely not coming back next year and he's playing for a contract but that's just me.