Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
No 23 year old defenseman 'is what he is'.
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To support this, Hanifin has looked better and better to me. Not sure if the analytics match up, but he seems to be getting more and more reliable on defence, which was the biggest hole in this game.
Defencemen 'are what they are' usually by the time they hit 28-30. Not 23. Sure, once in a while you get a Phaneuf. More often than not you get a Giordano, MacInnis, etc. Sometimes they come in and put up a good amount of points, but it usually takes defencemen a number of years to be really good defensive players - and some never really get there at all.
Hanifin was atrocious defensively. If you look up some of his old interviews, he even points out that growing up around hockey and including right up until the draft, his coaches wouldn't really get him to focus on defence much at all since he was good at putting up points. He looked awful in his first season or two in Carolina - I mean horrendous in his own zone.
Now? Looks fairly steady to me. Doesn't seem to make too many mistakes - at least not more than any other top 4 defender out there. Last 2 seasons - especially his time paired with someone who is also competent - has shown him to be an excellent defencemen who is also very good in transition. He looks better and better and actually seems to be taking some steps forward.
I would agree with Blaster 100% if Hanifin was a forward and not a defencemen (well, even then they rarely are who they are at 23, but they peak earlier) and if I couldn't see him actually getting better with my very own eyes.