Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Watching Hanifin and Andersson so far this season, they are great reminders that, who you play with (and the situations you are put in), matters.
Hanifin with Hamonic -awful, and many people wanted to get rid of him
Hanifin with Andersson - substantially better, but people gave Andersson all the credit
Hanifin with Tanev - fantastic, and people initially blamed Tanev, though there appears to be growing praise/realization that Hanifin is playing really well in his own right
Meanwhile, Andersson has struggled a bit, playing with Gio and getting the tough minutes. Not terrible, but it is a tougher role.
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It's almost impossible to decide who the culprit is.
In 99 minutes together they have an xGF% of 38%. That's terrible. Apart (limited time they are both bad as well).
Visually you see mistakes from both of them ... honestly can't believe they both left the zone in Montreal before the puck went out.
Only a matter of time before they have to switch it up ... which logically would be Valimaki with Andersson since they're not going to break Hanifin and Tanev up.
Then try both new pairings with reduced minutes and see how the team rolls ... Ward is using all three pairings so it's not like Giordano gets Dalton Prout and 8 minutes a night.
But as a pair I'm not so sure how long you can walk them out. They've only been above water twice in eight games, and they have three games in the 20%s.