Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe
I hate to be that guy, but did you watch him play (outside the Penticton tourneys and so on)?
Kylington is pretty good defensively. 95% of the time, he is in the right place, and he has excellent gap control. It is really difficult to beat him wide. I think he looked like the best 'bubble' defencemen this past pre-season, and was surprised to see him sent down early.
Does he make some high-risk plays at times? Yes, but those are much more limited now, and he is seemingly picking his spots better. The notion that he is poor defensively has died after last season, and the fact that this is still being brought up is kind of funny.
I still rank Kylington ahead of Andersson. Andersson was called up ahead of Kylington mostly due to him being a RHS and it was Hamonic that was out. Is he ranked ahead of Kylington organizationally? Neither you nor I really know the answer to that one, but Kylington didn't fall out of the 1st round because he was 'poor defensively'. He fell out of the 1st round due to questions about his character and the fact that he bounced around between 3 or 4 teams in his draft year, seemingly stalling his development.
Also, Andersson was on some lists considered a top 10 pick that year heading into his draft year season. Kylington was as high as 2 and 3, and Andersson was around 8 or 9. Both are quality prospects. I just think the stigma around Kylington not being able to play defence is unwarranted at this point, and even when he decides to go for a high risk play he ends up making it back on D more times than not. Those that watch the Heat regularly can probably chime in better than I can.
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I think patience with Oliver Kylington will result in Jankowskiesque benefits in the long term. Kylington is in his 3rd AHL season, and he's 20. It'd be silly to move on from him now.
But he absolutely fell out of the 1st round and damn near into the 3rd because he was bad defensively.