TJ Brodie has taken his game to a whole new level

[FlamesAddiction]

One thing I like about Brodie is that he provides offense without sacrificing defense. All of Giordano, Brodie and Russell have great instincts in this regard. Wideman has also improved greatly.

I actually think Wideman has had a huge impact on the development of those 3 players when it comes to their offensive play, as well as blocking shots. Not to take anything away from them, but young players learn from their veterans and the anecdotal evidence would suggest that Wideman has been a good teacher. A lot of people forget that Wideman was a premiere shot blocking defenseman when the Flames brought him over, and now it is something that all of our d-men do quite well.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I've been thinking the same thing. As awesome as Brodano is (possibly the best pairing in the league), it really exposes the 3rd pairing and we saw how terrible Engelland paired up with another 6/7 guy is. Leaving Brodie with Engelland and having Gio with Schlemko might not give us that #1 dynamite pairing. But it gives us 3 fantastic defensive pairings.

Giordano · Schlemko
Brodie · Engelland
Russell · Wideman

I think that looks great. Put Brodano back together when you need a big goal or on the PP. But the key in all of this is having Engelland paired with someone who helps him raise his own game. Brodie has done exactly that.

I'd much prefer to have 3 solid pairing instead of just 2 dynamite pairings in the top 4 and a scary bottom pair.

Also wanted to say that the sky's the limit for Brodie. Defensemen often hit their prime much later than forwards. Brodie is only 24 and looks to be improving every year. Look at the rest of our top 4 to see just how good of late bloomers Russell, Gio and Wideman are. What a fantastic contract Brodie's is. Just insane how most of us would have been happy with a 6mil cap hit, and we have him for under 5 and it hasn't even kicked in yet. Unreal.

To the second bold: nope. The bottom pair needs to be improved next year no question. But the way to do that is to improve the bottom pair by getting more capable players, not by splitting up 'possibly the best pairing in the league'.

On that note, I believe that the combination of Engelland, Wotherspoon, Schlemko, and Diaz (and quite possibly another UFA) will serve us much, much better next year than the Engelland, Smid, Diaz combination did this year.

But if you have the best pairing in the league, you're doing everyone else a favour by splitting them up.

[GioforPM]

I agree that splitting up the top pair is not as good an option. Nice to know that Engelland can handle big minutes though.

For now, I think a bottom pair of Schlemko and Engelland would do just fine, with Wotherspoon and Diaz adding the depth. Diaz is replaceable, too.

Sad to say, but Schlemko is better than Smid and Wotherspoon at this point. I hope he's extended. Don't care if Diaz is.

If Smid can't go, they should LTIR him, to get that salary available.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

To the second bold: nope. The bottom pair needs to be improved next year no question. But the way to do that is to improve the bottom pair by getting more capable players, not by splitting up 'possibly the best pairing in the league'.

On that note, I believe that the combination of Engelland, Wotherspoon, Schlemko, and Diaz (and quite possibly another UFA) will serve us much, much better next year than the Engelland, Smid, Diaz combination did this year.

But if you have the best pairing in the league, you're doing everyone else a favour by splitting them up.

I agree with what your saying, but only IF that option to upgrade becomes available. Looking at our contracts on D next season, Schelmko is the only one who will need a new contract. Gio, Brodie, Engelland, Wideman and Russell will all be back. It's not unrealistic to think that other then the 7th guy, we will have the same D corps as last season to start the year. Also my preference is to bring back Schelmko. Therefore it's not unrealistic to think that we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket in order to solidify all 3 lines if we have the same 6 guys. Again, if a better upgradeable option pops up, Treliving will take it. But I'd rather have 3 solid balanced defensive lines, instead of an amazing top 4 and a scary bottom pair that plays >10 mins and gets scored on regularly.