Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
Why wouldn’t Backlund get this duty? Generally speaking, he’s been the premier shut down guy on the team for years now. It’s essentially his role and he relishes it. Lindholm probably would make a formidable shutdown center though, but I think his skillset would better used in an offensive role.
EDIT: Also, if I’m not mistaken. Both Datsyuk and Zetterberg were elite defensively. So not sure it was a Batman needs Robin kind of thing.
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Ultimately, because Lindholm is better.
Backlund is good defensively. When we ask him to shadow a McDavid or MacKinnon, we lose, often with those star players adding a spectacular goal to their reel.
Zetterberg vs Crosby was the matchup Babcock wanted - not meaning to disparage Datsyuk.
In a Final, it’s elite of the elite vs elite of the elite. It’s fine to send Kris Draper out to harass Sid in November or February. In June, you send a star to deal with another star - you don’t send Robin to face the Joker.
We need a minimum of Eichel/Lindholm/Backlund/+ because whoever we’d play likely has a centre group that’s at least as good as that, and probably better.