I think bringing in a 5th guy who arguably could play in the top 4 is an indictment on the bottom pairing last year, particularly in the playoffs.
Pretty clear that Tre saw the need to fill all 3 pairs with quality defencemen rather than play Gio/Brodie 25 min+ each.
As we saw with Pittsburgh, the new NHL means depth and that's on forward and defence. The modern 3rd/4th lines are guys that can skate and you need your defence depth to match up accordingly.
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