Quote:
Originally Posted by CroCop
Hmm...Valimaki trade protection?
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My guess is probably that Sutter wants more out of his $4M veteran defenseman, and isn't quite ready to pull the plug on the acquisition 8 games into the season.
Zadorov hasn't been good, but there is an expectation that he will be better today than he was Saturday night.
Still not a fan of that pair's inability to move the puck, but you look back to the job Zadorov-Cole did on our top players in the 2018-19 playoffs and you can see why Sutter wants him to at least start playing well. Despite Gudbranson's success so far, maybe Zadorov-Valimaki is a higher-ceiling pair. Step 1 is getting Zadorov performing to a high level before putting him with the potentially erratic young kid while moving said kid to his off-side.