Phil_314 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 With Trader Jim's recent buy-low acquisitions Baertschi, Clendening and Vey, he's started to stockpile a decent amount of young guys who may be ready to step into the NHL within a couple of seasons. Our youth includes (and it's a solid group): Horvat, Tanev, Vey, Kassian, Baertschi, Kenins, Clendening, Corrado, Virtanen, Jensen, Markstrom, Shinkaruk, McCann, Demko, Gaunce, Cassels, Subban... However, with the solid drafting and trades done, the forwards (many of whom are 1st round picks) and goalies look well stocked while the defensemen don't appear as promising. Seeing as J.B. likes to make buy-low moves for near-ready guys, I could see the likelihood of him moving for a Patty Wiercioch or hopefully a Martin Marincin (the Oil routinely bury him and their fan site called him "a prospect who doesn't seem to be valued" by MacTavish for not having "competitiveness" http://oilersnation.com/2015/3/3/the-craig-mactavish-defence). With that said, who do you see as viable targets for this team to acquire and groom for the back end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Barzal Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 6'5" + or bust. The dream of having an all bear defence core is 1/3 of the way there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Juice Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Wiercoch is already playing for the Senators. No way Murray will trade him considering they have next to nobody in their D prospects to compensate for the loss if traded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2inthecup Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 We don't have room for next year With the current RFAS. Corrado Stanton clendening Sbisa. Even weber who has been a good fill in guy and putting up decent points. We have to move/no sign 2 dmen before next season. Same on the forwards. Lots of competition. Going to be a lot of decisions to be made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losing With Pride Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Doughty Weber Keith Pietrangelo Seabrook Subban Vlasic JB make it happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piggy Bank Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Tinordi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ro0 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Tinordi Might get awkward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wash Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I like Benning's method of trying to pick up young, not-quite-able-to-make-the-roster players with the hope they turn in to productive players within a few years. How long before other GM's catch on and the price starts to creep up so that this is no longer a viable option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinphase Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I was actually surprised that we didn't claim Tim Erixon and let the Leafs do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonMexico Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 6'5" + or bust. The dream of having an all bear defence core is 1/3 of the way there. So you want a bunch of tall plugs back there? Height of players is a vastly over-rated commodity. Even if you have size on side, defencemen will get no where without hockey IQ and strong positional play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithers joe Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 you forgot pedan, the big russian and bonino...tryamakin or what ever his name is...? i think, just to know that if someone benning things could help us, he'll go after them... there are people that know baerschi, feel we got a steal...i hope so...pedan is supposed to have progressed a great deal...i love cassels and mccann...benning said they have determined the type of team they want and have instructed their scouts to look for that type of player.... he said that willie wanted a fast, high pressure team. he also said that he likes a tough, hard hitting team...i think we as fans can echo that we like both types of teams too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathew Barzal Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 So you want a bunch of tall plugs back there? Height of players is a vastly over-rated commodity. Even if you have size on side, defencemen will get no where without hockey IQ and strong positional play. It was a joke, but I'm curious. Why do you associate being tall with having no hockey IQ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirbs11 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I was actually surprised that we didn't claim Tim Erixon and let the Leafs do it. Well we may have put a Claim in but i think the teams lowest in the standings always have first priority, Canucks might have put in a claim but Toronto got him first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48MPHSlapShot Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 It was a joke, but I'm curious. Why do you associate being tall with having no hockey IQ? Because it takes longer for blood to flow to the brain when you're tall. It's the same reason that giraffes and brachiosaurs are dumb as f#ck. D'uh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Our defence needs a real shakeup. Obviously they're seiving everything right now with 3 of our top-4 injured, but even when healthy our defence has been brutal. Not putting up points, not overly physical and shaky in their own zone. Here's how our defence looks when healthy: Edler (24 minutes) - Tanev (21 minutes) Hamhuis (22 minutes) - Bieksa (22 minutes) Sbisa (17 minutes) - Stanton (14 minutes) Clendening/Weber/Corrado Of that entire group, the only guys I'm pleased with going forward are Edler, Tanev and Hamhuis at reduced minutes. Even Hamhuis has buckled defensively when overloaded with 26 minutes a night as we've seen. Bieksa has been terrible when played over 20 minutes, as has Sbisa, Clendening and Stanton. My proposal is to transition away from the Hamhuis-Bieksa era and towards a younger generation of defencemen. Bieksa is the oldest of the group and needs to go 1st. Hamhuis may be old, but is still good for top-4 minutes and in maybe 3 years time will be a fantastic 3rd defensive pairing leader. As for all the RFAs, Sbisa and Stanton have disappointed me and should only ever be playing low minutes (if any) which is why this defence needs another top-4 guy to push them down the depth chart and keep them away from ever having to play 20+ minutes. PROPOSAL: 1) Try to get rid of Bieksa. It'll be hard, and he's a big locker-room presence, but his cap-hit is way too high for what little offence and defence he brings to the table. If he's on this team, I'd like him on the bottom pairing but he's far too expensive for that. If Coburn and Timonen can get what they got, Bieksa could be traded at the draft for a 2nd round pick easily (Benning said he wanted that pick back). 2) Let Stanton walk. Re-sign Weber cheap (he's been a fantastic injury fill-in). Only re-sign Sbisa if he's willing to play 15 minutes a night for 1.5-2M. Otherwise let him walk. Very similar game to Bieksa which is risky (no offence, gets stuck in his own zone and falls over his own feet) 3) Find a future star left handed defenceman to slowly replace Hamhuis over the years. We have no one on the left side for the future of this team. Even Edler is getting old now. Tanev, Corrado, Clendening and Subban are all right handed defencemen. Pedan's a lefty but doubt he'll pan out as he's struggling in the AHL/ECHL. TO VAN: Joe Morrow TO BOS: 2nd round pick (from Bieksa) + rights to Sbisa if they want them + one of Jensen/McCann/Cassels/Shinkaruk Baertschi coming in makes Jensen/Shinkaruk expendable, and we've got a log-jam of middle-6 centers right now. Boston take what they want, we get a future star in Joe Morrow. Defence for 2015-2016: Edler - Tanev Hamhuis - Corrado Morrow - Clendening Personally I think Corrado and Clendening will improve a lot by the start of next season, if not sign a UFA defencemen (there are a lot out there) who will undoubtedly be better than Bieksa at 20+ minutes. In 3-5 years time when most of our forwards are in their prime and we're competing again for a Cup: Edler - Tanev Morrow - Corrado Hamhuis - Clendening Subban Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonMexico Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 It was a joke, but I'm curious. Why do you associate being tall with having no hockey IQ? I thought you were being serious. I wasn't necessarily equating size with hockey IQ directly. I was more or less playing into the stereotype that big guys are viewed as ogre-ish (not a compliment about intelligence); the big guys get the breaks over the smaller, sometimes smarter players. Size appears to trump all other negative aspects of one's game. On my drive home last night, some guy called TSN1040 and asked about Baertschi; where he is from, how big is he. When Jeff Patterson said Sven B. is Swiss and a shade under 6ft and weighed a buck eighty or so, you could hear audible disgust in the caller's voice. Then he pipes up and said why the heck didn't they go after that Stewart guy instead, he is a big power forward. The guy is implying that because Stewart is bigger he is therefore better player than Baertschi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattrek Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 There's a widespread misconception that size can make up for any flaw a defenceman has and that the bigger they are the better they are. Sure size is a great asset, but positional awareness and smart puck movement is by far the two biggest traits any sized defenceman can have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimp C Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Edler-Tanev Hamhuis-Corrado Stanton-Clendening Weber Wiercioch, Tinordi, Morrow are not an improvement over those 6 starters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420since1974 Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 There's a widespread misconception that size can make up for any flaw a defenceman has and that the bigger they are the better they are. Sure size is a great asset, but positional awareness and smart puck movement is by far the two biggest traits any sized defenceman can have. Agreed. See Kris Russell on the Flames, he's only 5'10", 180 lbs., is a +10 and leads the league in shots blocked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baer. Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Mike Matheson. Make it happen JB. Kid's a stud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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