Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
If I were the coach I wouldn't use those combinations unless I'm trying something new to get the team going. However, I can see what he is trying to do. He wants to keep Gio and Brodie separated so he can have is #1 and #1a defensemen on the ice as much as possible, instead of both at the same time.
Putting Hamilton with one of them would make sense, but then you would have to put one of your bottom pairing defensemen on their offside. Brodie has done it before, and it wasn't a failed experiment so it makes better sense to put one of your better defenseman, who was proven to do decent on his off-side than one of your lesser performing commodities on their off-side where they are more likely to be a disaster.
How is he going to dish out even ice time for Gio, Brodie and Hamilton? Probably double shifting. You would have to be insane to think that Wideman can handle a full season with top pairing minutes. He won't. Brodie will double shift on that spot. Hamilton may also get a trial in that spot for an extra shift here and there. Then there is PP time for all three too.
We have to see how Gulutzan will work all three pairings in a game before we can determine that it will be a failure, no matter how sceptical we are.
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Last year both Gio and Brodie played poorly (for them) when paired with Hamilton.
Gulutzan might be bringing a different view of the skill level of the Flames as last year he would have been looking on how best to attack the Flames. Hamilton might be an easier target than Wideman.
As for TOI Wideman almost always handles big minutes. Hamilton has had 1 year (out of 4) where he over 20 minutes --2014-15 he played 21:10 that was forced on Boston with Boychuck leaving and Chara being hurt.
In 2014-15 where Hamilton made his big impression he had 4 games where he played more than 24 minutes.
In Hamilton's last year in Boston he was paired with Chara 57% and Siedenberg 25 % of the time. Chara came back and had a better year last year paired with Kevan Miller and Zach Trotman.
I don't think that Hamilton, as talented as he is, is easy to play with