These defensive pairings are difficult to come up with.
I do not want Andersson on the top pairing - he is too often a liability out there.
Kylington has been nothing but damn good, but does he really go from '7th-8th defencemen' to 'top pairing'? That's asking a lot from him, and probably setting him up to fail.
Zadorov has been a trainwreck so far in transition and in defence. It is really showing why Zadorov wasn't protected, and has been moved around a bit.
Gudbranson has been better than Zadorov IMO, but don't mistake that with a glowing endorsement.
Tanev has been good, and I expect Hanifin to be good as well (and he was tonight, especially considering it was his first game back).
Well, I said it a bunch of times before, I am very happy that Sutter is the coach. If anyone can get this group of defencemen playing well, it is going to be Sutter. Somewhere in all of this is going to be 3 solid pairings somehow. I don't know how, but somehow Sutter will make it work.
|