[GranteedEV]

I find myself disagreeing with peoples' take on Hamilton defensively. He wasn't Gio, but he was a rock solid #2 who broke the cycle early and moved the puck out quickly. Where he ran into problems was simply that he didn't have a great defensive stick or anything resembling shot blocking technique. How many times did teams score an empty net goal right THROUGH Hamilton because he only played the body? Likewise, the problem wasn't that he got beat to the middle all the time, but the very occasional time he did, he magnified the issue by using his arms instead of his feet and usually ended up in the box.

But the idea that Gio carried him is a bit off. Hamilton did his part. I had way more comfort seeing that pair match up to top lines than I would Gio-Hamonic or Gio-Stone, despite peoples' love of these tier IV and V defensive defensemen.

As for Hanifin, he's been okay but people might be overrating him in classic piss-on-former-player fashion. Hanifin-Stone nor Hanifin-Andersson have not been a better pairing than Russell-Hamilton was and this is a more talented team than 2016. I do however like Hanifin's compete level more and I expect fewer egregious penalties or empty netters right through his stick. Hamilton struggled to carry Jokipakka, sure... but Jokipakka was not an NHLer.

Personally to me the biggest thing is that we have Brodie back on the right side though. He's just better there. I am happy with Hanifin as he is a solid middle pair defenseman with upside but let's not pretend we traded away a sieve and got back a superstar. It seems to be very close talentwise. I too miss Ferland and I don't see our top line being as solid 5 on 5 as they were last year. Lindholm with his handedness and face off skill helps our PK and PP so you have to give to get, though.