Quote:
Originally Posted by heep223
Agree with this. This defence looks different without Brodie and not in a good way. They lost their best skater. Without knowing all the intimate details I would have been happy with him signing that same deal with the flames.
With Valimaki coming in to add to Gio, Rasmus and Hanifin, I suppose they can cobble the rest of the D together. That’s a big bet on Valimaki though. That D core still looks pretty good, but it’s pretty precarious if someone goes down to injury.
Makes me think they’re fearing up to make a push for a play-driving forward in the top six. Honestly with the goalie situation sorted I feel that’s almost the last piece to actually make them a legitimate threat.
Brodie was a fantastic Flame and one of my favourites. His poor play at times I attribute mostly to idiot coaches trying to play him on the left side. Good luck to him on the Leafs and I will think of him with fondness.
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Not sure what you mean by best skater, but in the last couple years, I’d say Hanifin and Kylington have better wheels.
Going forward, filling the hole depends on what you want the makeup of that pairing to be. You don’t have to look for Brodie’s skill set. Maybe you go more defensive and use a Tanev or Vatanen. Or maybe you pair Rasmus and Gio for defensive matchups and look at a Barrie-Hanifin pairing.
Unless you can work a magic deal for Pietrangelo of course.