Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I've seen people say that Stone has "proven" he can step into a top 4 role and not look out of place but this is false. All he really proved was that he has a great slap shot and had perfect timing in terms of being traded right before a Brian Elliott hot streak (as did Matt Bartkowski). If Stone is in our top four for any extended period, the results will probably never work out so nicely again.
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You don't agree and that's fine, but it's not false.
Stone has stepped up. I agree it's not an ideal situation but the league is full of 5-7 dmen that simply can't take on more ice time in any situation. Stone isn't one of them.
Add in the fact that he's a solid physical defenseman that seals forwards well, blocks shots and stays out of huge trouble and you have a decent safety valve.
Stone doesn't drive any offence so his shot attempts for are always on the light side, killing his splits. But if you isolate his attempts against and specifically high danger attempts against he moves up the list. Last year Stone was 3rd on the team in high danger attempts against per 60 minutes, ahead of Brodie, Hamonic and Kulak. Sure he has less quality of opponent, but then he's a third pairing guy so that's natural.
Having said all that I'm good with moving on ... they'll need to make space at some point. But I don't think it's out of the realm of solid asset management to see how things go in October and November before making that decision.