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Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
This is a ridiculous, utterly revisionist and completely unsupportable position. Shattenkirk was a top pairing defenseman until he got to Washington. Saying he was "always a number 5"... it's just totally insane. This is like looking at the last few years of Heatley's career and saying "well he was always a bottom six forward".
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Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester were the Blues' top pair for his entire tenure there. How can you say he was a top pairing defenseman when he never played on his team's top pairing? It didn't take long for him to be surpassed by rookie Parayko, either, on their second pair.
Shattenkirk is a very talented offensive defenseman. Like I said, he was a #4D, and on a more talented blueline a #5D. This carried over to his tenure in Washinton, where he was placed on the clear third pair with Brooks Orpik - if he were a top pairing defenseman he would have spent time on a team's top pairing.
As for your chart, that is an all situations chart. Shattenkirk was on the Blues' #1 PP (and deservedly so) in that time. But when we talk about top pairing or bottom pairing that really has no bearing - we could replace Giordano with Kylington on the top PP and possibly improve our PP - but that wouldn't make Kylington a top pairing defenseman until and unless his pairing is a top pairing at ES.