Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
This is going back to the days of Regehr, Hamrlik, Phaneuf, Bouwmeester, Gio, Brodie, Hamilton, etc where the play of the defense has never lived up to its billing and the team has never lived up to expectations because of it. It's why I feel they should shift their focus on building an elite forward group as you can teach team defense but you can't teach offensive skill. The defense group of Tanev, Hanafin, Andersson, Valimaki is already decent enough. Look at the defensive depth of the Lightning for example. They have one elite defender but the rest of the group is largely average.
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I don't disagree that forward is where the Flames need to improve. But saying Tampa doesn't have elite defence - except for that Hedman guy - is a little against the grain. Besides, Segachev, Shattenkirk and McDonough I'd say are above average. And Cernak doesn't look like a bad up and comer.