Quote:
Originally Posted by Monahammer
Housley
Hamilton
Phaneuf
Bouwmeester
Brodie
I don't see how Brodie should make this team, in any consideration. He's been a solid flame, but never a peak performer.
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I think Brodie is the best Flames defenseman on that list. Gio & Brodie have been a top pairing for years with Gio consistently performing at a Norris level.
Replace Brodie with Hamilton, and Gio is no longer Norris calibre and the Flames don't have a dominant top pairing.
Brodie and Engelland were the top pair on the team after Gio got injured. I don't think any other player on that list could have done that with Engelland... on his off side too!
He's half of the best D pairing the Flames have ever had. And he's not a passenger, he makes Gio better. Good players make players around them better.
Bouwmeester has had a better career, and was a better player than Brodie at his peak. But not as a Flame. To Bouwmeester's credit, he made Butler look like an NHL defenseman.
Housley and Phaneuf put up better numbers with the Flames, but i don't think they were particularly good at the defensive part of the game. And Phaneuf definitely didn't make his teammates better.
I wasn't sad when Phaneuf, Housley, Bouwmeester or Hamilton left town and I don't think the Flames got worse without them. At least two of those players were addition by subtraction.
But I'll be sad when Brodie leaves. If Andersson wasn't such a beauty, Brodie's departure would leave a huge hole on the back end
All IMO.