Taking stock of our group, I’m not sure it makes a ton of sense to bring Brodie back..
Gio - Current #1 D, all signs point to having many miles left in the tank as a top 4 dman he just needs his workload to be managed, meaning less special teams time.
Andersson - Emerging top 4 dman who is our only proven RH shot dman under contract next season. He is ready for top 4 ice time.
Hanifin - Top 4 dman with plenty of experience and is younger than Andersson so he still has a lot of potential to grow. He needs top 4 ice time.
Valimaki - Top prospect (if you consider him that) who has struggled with injuries the last two years but has the potential to be a #1 dman. When he finally got on the ice in the playoffs last year he looked poised, confident and was probably our best dman in the games he played. He will need to be managed carefully but the sky is the limit for him and so long as he is healthy I don’t see how he doesn’t push for more ice time immediately next season. I know everyone is worried about his injuries but I don’t see it being a problem. We had the same worry about Backlund early in his career.
Kylington - I don’t know where he stands within the organization. I like him and want to see him get more looks on the PP as I think he has a lot of untapped offensive potential. Either way he is a #5-7 option for us next season and I think if you want to develop his game he needs ice time. He is waiver eligible so he should be on the bottom pairing next season.
Yelesin, Mackey, Poolman, Lerby and Kinnvall (Europe next yr) need more developmental time and aren’t seemingly viable options at this time. Yelesin and Mackey might make a case to play some games here and there but they likely aren’t ready to be regulars.
So we have 5 guys who have shown they can play in the NHL regularly to fill out our top 7 and a bunch of guys who will need some more time so for all intents and purposes shouldn’t be relied upon for regular mins next season. Like I said some of these guys could make noise next yr but it’s not something we should bank on at this time.
Out of those 5, 4 are LH shots.
Out of those 5, 3 are players I would classify as smooth skating, puck distributors.
Out of those 5, 2 are gritty, harder nosed players.
Out of those 5, I would say 4 will be good enough to play in the top 4 next season.
IMO it will be all be dependant on how things shake out when NHL resumes but if Valimaki is fully recovered and shows such in practice why would we limit him next season?
I think, barring any trades, our starting top 4 should include Gio, Andersson and Hanifin next year. This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone as Andersson has proven he is ready and Gio and Hanifin were staples in our top 4 the last 2 seasons.
Valimaki should be eased back into things and start on the bottom pairing. By the time the puck drops on next season in might already have been a full year and half since he injured his knee. He will be ready to play.
Given the fact he is young and you don’t want to rush him it would be the prudent thing to re-sign or acquire another top 4 capable guy who you can move up and down the lineup and can provide some relief for Gio on special teams - specifically the PK as those minutes are much harder to play.
Is the player we want to bring back another left shot making us only have 1 RH option in the top 6?
Is the player we want to bring back another smooth skating, puck mover who isn’t overly difficult physically to play against?
Is the player we want to bring back a player who has been on a rollercoaster over the last few years exhibiting both excellent and frustrating play in that time?
To me the logical option to fill out the group is a bigger, gritty, RHed PK minute muncher.
I’ve been watching most, if not all, of the games since I can remember and I will tell you I like both Hamonic and Brodie. I don’t think either is as bad as they have been made out to be at certain times in their tenures here and see value in both.
But when I look at the makeup of the group and the path it is headed, I don’t see Brodie as the right guy to bring back.
Maybe Hamonic isn’t the right guy either but IMO Brodie gets too much credit when playing with Gio while Hamonic gets too much flack when, at least what I notice, Hanifin is the player putting the pairing in situations that make us vulnerable in the defensive zone.
Gio
Andersson
Hanifin
Valimaki
Kylington
Hamonic
These are the top 6 guys I think should be here next season.
Maybe Kylington or Hanifin are used as tradebait and it changes everything but IMO Hamonic offers more of what we need given the current makeup of the group - big, gritty, RHed, can play up and down lineup, kills penalties.
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