Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Do I think their size makes a difference? Insofar as it gives them reach and such yes, but a lot of the posts crediting their height and toughness for the overall team turnaround are still eyeroll worthy..
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I'm basically going by what Sutter has said in many post games about how much the identity of the team has changed with these two and how the big defensemen were one of his priorities coming into the season. I think it is definitely part of his overall plan. He mentioned in a few press conferences how he saw the defensemen and Markstrom being bullied too often in our own zone last year and he had to fix that by getting some big bodies that could take and dish out the punishment.
Perhaps having these big guys playing those tougher minutes is what has contributed to fewer injuries on the team. Everybody is healthy, especially Tanev. Canucks fans always tried to justify losing him because he never played an 82 game season, he always had injury problems. Now I see it more like other teams had no choice but to throw him into those grinding defensive roles rather than strategic because they had no choice and it wore him down. With the size of Z+G (and Lucic, etc.) I think the team has been able to stay a lot healthier and successful overall.