Little Fury
Registered User
- Jun 21, 2006
- 17,865
- 6,883
Time comes for everyone, point being that he has tools and hockey IQ that most never dream of, so he has a bigger bag of tools to draw from than most at his age.
Tools and hockey IQ don't matter when your body can't do what it used to.
I'm not sure the defense will really be that much worse than last year.
Even though Keith is old, I hard to believe that he will be worse than Russell, Lagesson, Koekkoek, Jones etc on the second pairing. Surely he has to be somewhat of an upgrade even if you believe that analytics. I've read even some analytics people who do a deep dive on the numbers, and think hes better than what the numbers are showing. I dont like the 5.5 mil cap hit but I dont think the player is as bad as some are making him out to be.
I think people are being blinded by Keith's resume. Any other acquisition with the same age and recent track record wouldn't be given the same benefit of the doubt. And I just don't think it matters at this point. The list of HOF D men who were done by Keith's age is long and distinguished.
Ceci vs Larssson. I think Ceci isnt going to be able to match Larssons year from last year. That being said, I'm not sure that Larsson could replicate his year from last year based on his inconsistent history.
Ceci hasn't been a model of consistency either and I think his ceiling is lower than Larsson's. Keith-Larsson would have been a better pairing for sure.
I think Bouchard was good enough to be a regular last year. Now he has a spot, and doesnt have to worry about someone taking it. I think hes going to be an upgrade on Bear personally.
Depends on who he's riding shotgun with. I'm not sure he can carry a pairing with a guy like Russell or Lagesson at this stage.
Ideally, we would have kept Larsson, signed another LD and made Keith-Bouchard the third pairing but it is what it is.
Keith > any of the rotating cast that was moonlighting in the top 4LD spot
But Larsson>Ceci so I'd call it a wash at best.