Bennett and Gio are hard working skaters and are players that hustle almost every shift but they are not as fast as the appear. Average skaters at best.
Zadorov might not be a good skater either but Coleman is faster than Bennett. Pitlick also is a good skater.
No question this team got much bigger and more physical and even if the team isn't faster it's at least comparable overall team speed to last years team. No need to split the atom over it, but this team is not way slower as they lost not one player that is considered a fast skater other than Nordstrom who hardly played
Is it enough to be a contender? Probably not but I like they fact this team is built for the playoffs now. I'd rather have a team that might struggle in the regular season but if we get in we are a team nobody wants to play than a soft regular season team that gets crushed in the playoffs.
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