It was tough to be excited about much last year, and after the Flames flickering performance, hard to get on board with signing a big slow "Sutter type" defenseman.
He's been a pro and showed up ready from day 1, and has basically gotten better and better through the year.
I also think it's worth looking at one other fact: Kylington came out of nowhere, we were unsure he was every going to be a regular NHLer, and if he doesn't come along in leaps and bounds this year, maybe Gudbranson and the rest of the D don't slot as well and it looks poorer all around.
As is, very suddenly the regular D core here looks terrific and quite versatile. And having a super-tough guy on the ice pretty regularly is certainly keeping other teams at bay, with Looch, Gud, Zad, around, not much is happening in those scrums.
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