Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
Andersson and Kylington have been in the system for three years now. If they can't handle some live bullets at this point, they're nothing but hype.
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That isn't reality.
Most defensemen take longer than 3 years to develop. A young developing defenseman isn't all hype if he's unable to handle 20 minutes 3 years after being drafted. The majority can't and don't. There's no way Kylington is ready to be a top 4 dman. I suspect Andersson is not ready for that role either. Doesn't mean they are crap prospects.
Valimaki is the most likely of the bunch to be a top 3 defenseman. He'll probably see NHL time next year. But this idea that our young dmen are ready for top 4 time right now and have to be handed it is a little premature IMO. Probably far, far more likely that Kulak could play top 4 reasonably than either Andersson or Kylington. It's one of the toughest positions to play in the league. I'm pretty confident Brad Treliving is not going to be handing top 4 roles to raw rookies who've barely played in the league. And if he does do it, it's most likely to be Valimaki that is the exceptional one who plays early. But I highly doubt Valimaki is ready right away either.
Can we trade a top 4 dman? Yes because we have guys like Kulak and Stone who can probably play there. If guys like Andersson or Valimaki are breaking in next year its likely to be on the 3rd pairing.