Quote:
Originally Posted by TheoFleury
Regehr is a good a example of a D that started to put his defensive game together at around Hamilton's age, and he was a pure shutdown guy with no offense to speak of. If Hamilton can become half of what Regehr was in his own end, the rest is already there. Most Dmen aren't great defenders age 18-23, there is no reason Hamilton can't improve in this area by a fair amount over the next year or two.
If he is still lacking defensively at 25-26, I will concede the point. However, for right now, it's too early to say what will happen. The kid has all the tools, it's just a matter of putting it all together. Of course there are no guarantees, but to EXPECT he won't improve is a weird opinion IMO.
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To this cogent argument I counter Dion Phanuef
another freak of nature... outstanding scoring guy with that just never got to the point where he understood the game.
Phanuef was the #6 highest scoring d-man in the NHL over his first 3 years ending when he was 22.