[rhino]

Originally Posted by 868904

I know it is absurd to many people, but I think Brodie really is better on the right side. If you watch tape of him, you notice a few things:

- while carrying the puck, he turns to his left much sharper than to his right, this allows him to elude forecheckers much quicker when playing the right side;
- while playing the right side, one of his favourite moves to evade a forechecker is to bounce the puck behind him on the boards and pick it up on his forehand while moving forward into the offensive zone; he can't do this when playing the left side, cause then he goes in to the opposite direction back into the defensive end;
- he just sees the ice better from the right side, could simply be his peripheral vision in his left eye is better than his right eye.
- this will also be mocked, but his right crossovers seem to have more power than his left crossover; which is why he seems to be better able to evade forecheckers while turning left and crossing over with his right. He also looks a lot slower while playing the left side for this reason, I believe.

I know this seems stupid to many, but when I played, I always had stronger sides. It's not just as simple as being left shot - right shot. If you have stronger mechanics on one side of your body or if you have better peripheral vision one eye, that will affect how you play.

Having said all this, I think the Flames really have 4 "right shot" defensemen because that is where Brodie belongs. However, Brodie is also able to play the "left side", though he is considerably weaker doing it. The Flames don't have any other "left shot" defensemen after Gio who can play in the top 4. Kulak hasn't proven he is ready and Valimaki and Kylington are at least a year or two away.

I just don't think you trade Brodie unless you have a second pairing "left shot" defensemen ready.

You can trade a "right shot" defensemen because you really have 4 of them. Actually you have 5 of them, because Anderson appears NHL ready.

Totally agree..... offensive tackles in football talk about how hard it is to move from one side to the other, some guys can do it and some can’t. I would say if the coaching staff is adamant about the left/right combinations and Brodie is not at his best in that situation then management should move him somewhere that the system does not require the left/right combination, and if you can get a first and (2) second round picks for him you do that all day everyday.