Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
Wideman already is a pylon. Defensively and skating wise, he is the worst defenseman on the team, he's worse than Engelland. Wideman gets away as with being a NHL defenseman because he has off the charts offensive IQ.
Wideman was horrendous last year defensively too but he was so good offensively that most people ignored it.
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Haha, you're describing Wideman like he's a fraud who's got away with playing in the NHL for years somehow. "Off the charts offensive IQ" is an NHL skill, and a coveted one at that. He's never been great defensively and everyone from fans to media to management knows that.
He's an offensive defenseman, and they typically range anywhere from terrible to passable at defending, and then teams decide whether their offense is worth lack of defense. In Wideman's case he has always received good money because he can put up serious points and drive offense at times.
Sure, Wideman could be awesome at defense, too, then he'd be a 50 point, offensive and defensive defenseman and would be winning the Norris trophy all the time, and would cost $8+ million a year. Sometimes you take what you can get under the cap, and Wideman has provided quite a bit to this team.