I didn't have a chance to watch Redden as closely as I would have liked due to some moderating responsibilities, but what I saw was steady and unspectacular. Veteran patience and calm, adequate mobility and positioning, good puck management...but no flashes of anything notable in the way of puck skills, passing, vision, physicality, offensive zone play, etc.
Basically, he seems like a fine system defenseman who looks like a good fit here, but he's not a player that's likely to affect the game significantly in a positive or negative fashion any single play. Not that he needs to do that to be an asset to the team.
I didn't see anything that makes me think he's clearly a better option than Cole. He's basically just a different flavor...more experienced and consistent, but less dynamic pretty much all around. Favor whichever appeals to your personal preferences for the position, but I think they're fairly equivalent in terms of average net overall impact on the game.
