Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
I don't get the Hamonic love, I really don't. He's a max-20 point guy. Allegedly he brings physical presence, but he hasn't had 100 hits in a season in five years, and has averaged less than one hit a game the last two seasons. Last year he had 44 hits. Barely once every two games.
Comparatively, Engelland had seasons of 135, 105 and 135 hits As a Flame. And Engelland has Hamonic dead to rights when it comes to fights against the Canucks.
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Good defensive defencemen don't tend to get credit for lots of hits in the modern game. They get hit more by forecheckers than they hit. Engelland hit more because he got to the puck second. Hamonic usually gets to the corner first for a puck, so he gets hit. And I never thought of Hamonic as a real fighter (as opposed to a guy who would stand up for his teammates).
I don't think Hamonic has had the a good start. But when Hamonic is on he plays great positional defence, boxes out the net front well, wins puck battles and makes a good simple outlet pass. But he is better when the D side isn't all on him like when he played with Brodie or, to a lesser extent, with Hanifin. I thought he was really good with Gio, actually.
What I do think is that Andersson can successfully play Hamonic's game, but maybe with more offence. I wasn't expecting that before, when I suggested Brodie was going to be moved (because I thought Brodie's skill set was covered off better by the young guys).