There is no way that Andersson gets paired with Giordano - at least not as regularly as people think. I like Andersson, but he doesn't replace Brodie right now. Andersson will get eaten-alive by McDavid's and MacKinnon's foot speed, probably Pettersson as well.
Tanev won't replace Brodie's transition game - and I am worried he has been losing a step as that tweet in the first couple of pages pointed to - but he is the guy you pair with Giordano on the top pair against the top lines.
Andersson is trending in the right direction - I really like him myself, and I think that he is going to be a keeper for a long time and possibly end up being a top-pairing defencemen, but he needs more experience and hopefully increases his footspeed a bit by then.
The bottom pairing has to be Valimaki - Kylington.
If Kylington isn't going to get a run at being in the lineup regularly, trade him. He isn't going to get any better as the 7th D. He won't pass waivers. I would also start giving him reps on the 2nd unit PP - maybe not the mainstay guy there, but give him rotations. Develop this guy - he has the tools. Outside of two very lousy consecutive games in a row, Kylington has been pretty good defensively, even along the boards and in front of the net (where I just assumed he would be useless).
With Tanev signed (which I still really hate the term on), it gives Calgary a chance to really shelter that bottom-pairing right now.
I totally forgot that they signed Petrovic - so that's the 7th D. Calgary is done on Defence now I would think, and they have Yelesin and Mackey down on the farm who could fill in.
Still hate to lose Brodie, but Flames got what I consider to be the next best replacement left on the market (ignoring Pietrangelo of course). Hopefully he stays healthy - and Calgary doesn't run a system so reliant on blocking shots - but in the playoffs everyone does it more. I guess we will see how it works out - I still think it is a downgrade - including defensively (remember, the Giordano - Brodie pairing was lauded a couple of times in the last few seasons as the NHL's best pairing), and I would say that over the last 3 consecutive post-seasons, Brodie was by far Calgary's best defencemen.
I am still upset at losing Brodie, especially given that he was the best defencemen in the playoffs year over year, and part of the impetus for change was to get better at the playoffs, no?
We will see how it plays out. Hopefully the Flames don't miss a beat.
One final thing to note:
That Kevin Woodley interview this morning has me thinking. Markstrom was such a good fit for Calgary given what types of shots that they give up, and how strong Markstrom is at them. Brodie was always out against the opposing teams' best lines, and of course he would have a fairly strong correlation with that. I wonder how Tanev alters that metric?
Here is the interview once again for those that missed it (worth a listen for sure):
https://www.sportsnet.ca/960/the-nin...goalie-market/
