Quote:
Originally Posted by Teroy
I like Gio but some of you need to count the number of times he and TJ cough up the puck and stop blaming the lesser paid defencemen. For the money they get paid, I expect better. I enjoyed their effort when they were split up a couple of games back.
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Not that often, actually. In fact, Giordano away from the Stajan line (which has been our worst checking group
all year and most often it's been because of the forwards on the line sans Jooris) and Hamilton (which was pretty much
all during the poor individual start for Dougie) manages the puck
pretty damn well considering who they're up against every night.
Are there breakdowns? Of course there are, when you're in the defensive zone, the forechecking players are always at the bigger advantage. Every team has breakdowns.
The lesser-paid defensemen are blamed because they're given much easier circumstances thanks to the Gio-Brodie pairing - and they blew them over and over by letting the play go the other way. Jokipakka, Nakladal, and Wotherspoon have been a breath of fresh air the last handful of games because they've been taking their sheltered circumstances and actually playing as expected (
not especially well, just as expected for sheltered players).