Starting Schneids Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 No we clearly do not. This team plays 6 games without Sami Salo and we have one of the worst defences in the league. Sure we don't have one star that carries the defence, but they aren't working well by committee which is the issue - they need a veteran presence desperately because guys like Hamhuis, Bieksa, Edler and Garrison are not veterans, they're defencemen in their prime. We need a guy who's played in this league a much longer time, and that was Salo. He'd seen it all. These guys haven't. As for Ballard yes he's played ok, but he's paired with our best defenceman. You take away Tanev and he becomes our worst in an instance. So yes, Tanev is doing a great job with Ballard. He has turned this pathetic excuse for a defenceman into a decent 3rd pairing guy. You forget how badly he played without Tanev, and how he would be barrated for his poor play. Now Tanev comes along and fixes up his game perfectly. Basically, we have 4 panicky guys on defence and 2 calm, cool and collected defenceman - Hamhuis and Tanev. We used to have Salo in that mix as well, giving us a set of perfect pairs: Tanev would settle Ballard down, Hamhuis would cover for Bieksa and Salo would help Edler play a more solid game. Now we have a mismatch with Garrison instead of Salo, who is even less experienced than Edler. Barker and Vandermeer have been in this league a lot longer than some of our guys, I say throw Vandermeer in to see his effect on our other defencemen. This is why I was pushing so hard for Hal Gill or Allen - they would have fit this niche perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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