Is Deryk Engelland really a capable top pairing defenseman?

[Kronwalled8*]

Ive been impressed by him ever since he was paired with Brodie and has been playing huge minutes. Is it him stepping up or is it Brodie making him look like a top pairing dman?

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[Mr Lebowski]

Brodie, I don't want him being in our top 4 next year. But he has stepped up while playing with Brodie

 

[Anglesmith]

First of all, Brodie-Engelland has been our second pairing. Brodie-Giordano was the first pairing, but when Gio went down Russell-Wideman became the top pairing.

Second of all, he's still the same player playing the same way, but now his partner is better at giving him puck support (thus cutting down on his turnovers) and is better at reacting to fix his mistakes. So he isn't getting burned nearly as much.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Not.
Even.
Remotely.

He has completely neutered TJ Brodie. All he knows how to do is ice the puck and get himself out of position.

I nervously await the day when Engelland is our #7 like he should be.

The pairing itself dodges bullets every night thanks to TJ Brodie, Jonas Hiller, and Karri Ramo.

 

[Johnny GODreau]

Yes

Detroit needs a top pairing RHD on a good contract?

 

[Anglesmith]

Scratch that. Engelland is a god. I believe he is one of Zeus' offspring from his 4th marriage.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Not.
Even.
Remotely.

He has completely neutered TJ Brodie. All he knows how to do is ice the puck and get himself out of position.

I nervously await the day when Engelland is our #7 like he should be.

The pairing itself dodges bullets every night thanks to TJ Brodie, Jonas Hiller, and Karri Ramo.

Uh...

yeah I take it all back. It was a jinx post I tell ya.

 

[Lunatik]

Scratch that. Engelland is a god. I believe he is one of Zeus' offspring from his 4th marriage.

He is the offspring of a Hercules and Thor love child.

 

[Johnny GODreau]

He is the offspring of a Hercules and Thor love child.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Obviously.

 

[Wayne Primeau]

Hey, you shoulda made an offer before the game, because now he's our #1 scorer.

 

[ViCiieux]

His name is Deryk.

 

[1989]

It's clear his origins are of the fabled Anton heritage of old.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Engelland is actually a pretty solid D-Man.

He just can't move the puck, so when he plays with Smid it is just awful to watch. Same goes for Smid, he needs to play with a puck mover.

I think this just proves that we need a pick moving defencemen on our third pairing so it's not awful like this year was.

 

[slappipappi]

He's a bottom paring d-man on a bubble team, a depth player on a contending team.

He's the kind of guy contending teams sign for $1M or less on a 1-year contract (or less) for protection from injuries to better players. He is what he is.

He generally makes his teammates worse players.

 

[The Red Mile]

Engelland gives me anxiety attacks every time he tries to think he can contribute to the offensive game that the Flames play. When he jumps up in the play and tries to get all Gio like, I flip my lid and yell a lot. He is far too slow, not smart with the puck, and has no offensive IQ to be doing anything remotely close to being a top 4 d man. As a 5/6 guy he can be serviceable at best. I would prefer him in a 6/7role personally.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Guys, Engelland is a bottom pairing dman, period. I'm not really sure what people were expecting out of him. Like in actuality he's probably worth about 1.5 million, but before he signed here the perception of Calgary is that we were going to be a bottom 5 team. He had other multiple teams bidding on his services, so 2.9 is what it took for him to sign with the Flames.

Treliving identified a hole and that was that our defence was far too soft, they wanted a bigger dman that was physical and could clear the crease. Oh yeah, he also shoots right. People can complain about Engelland all they want, but the fact is that he is only type of dman on our backend that plays the style he does, and to be quite frank we could use another body that does what he does, so for that reason he is extremely important to our team. He's not awful skater, I rarely watch him and think he is incapable of keeping up with the tempo of play.

He's a big body, he's physical, he blocks and hits, he clears the crease, he shoots right, he's a bottom pairing guy, and we had to overpay to get him for the reasons I mentioned above. If we moved out Engelland and replaced him with a smaller dman we would get worked over so bad when we play Western conference teams. Plus he's willing to drop the gloves so when Bollig is out of the lineup, Engelland's presence is that much more mandatory to prevent guys like Carcillo or Rinaldo from taking cheap shots at our players.

I really find criticism of him unwarranted personally, because if your expectations are in check he's done exactly what he was brought in to do.

 

[Lunatik]

Guys, Engelland is a bottom pairing dman, period. I'm not really sure what people were expecting out of him. Like in actuality he's probably worth about 1.5 million, but before he signed here the perception of Calgary is that we were going to be a bottom 5 team. He had other multiple teams bidding on his services, so 2.9 is what it took for him to sign with the Flames.

Treliving identified a hole and that was that our defence was far too soft, they wanted a bigger dman that was physical and could clear the crease. Oh yeah, he also shoots right. People can complain about Engelland all they want, but the fact is that he is only type of dman on our backend that plays the style he does, and to be quite frank we could use another body that does what he does, so for that reason he is extremely important to our team. He's not awful skater, I rarely watch him and think he is incapable of keeping up with the tempo of play.

He's a big body, he's physical, he blocks and hits, he clears the crease, he shoots right, he's a bottom pairing guy, and we had to overpay to get him for the reasons I mentioned above. If we moved out Engelland and replaced him with a smaller dman we would get worked over so bad when we play Western conference teams. Plus he's willing to drop the gloves so when Bollig is out of the lineup, Engelland's presence is that much more mandatory to prevent guys like Carcillo or Rinaldo from taking cheap shots at our players.

I really find criticism of him unwarranted personally, because if your expectations are in check he's done exactly what he was brought in to do.

Well said Hox. He is a poor man's Sarich IMO, something we really needed when SOB couldn't fill that role.

 

[CraigsList]

Well said Hox. He is a poor man's Sarich IMO, something we really needed when SOB couldn't fill that role.

That's a great way to put it.

 

[StreakingRed]

Guys, Engelland is a bottom pairing dman, period. I'm not really sure what people were expecting out of him. Like in actuality he's probably worth about 1.5 million, but before he signed here the perception of Calgary is that we were going to be a bottom 5 team. He had other multiple teams bidding on his services, so 2.9 is what it took for him to sign with the Flames.

Treliving identified a hole and that was that our defence was far too soft, they wanted a bigger dman that was physical and could clear the crease. Oh yeah, he also shoots right. People can complain about Engelland all they want, but the fact is that he is only type of dman on our backend that plays the style he does, and to be quite frank we could use another body that does what he does, so for that reason he is extremely important to our team. He's not awful skater, I rarely watch him and think he is incapable of keeping up with the tempo of play.

He's a big body, he's physical, he blocks and hits, he clears the crease, he shoots right, he's a bottom pairing guy, and we had to overpay to get him for the reasons I mentioned above. If we moved out Engelland and replaced him with a smaller dman we would get worked over so bad when we play Western conference teams. Plus he's willing to drop the gloves so when Bollig is out of the lineup, Engelland's presence is that much more mandatory to prevent guys like Carcillo or Rinaldo from taking cheap shots at our players.

I really find criticism of him unwarranted personally, because if your expectations are in check he's done exactly what he was brought in to do.

Well said. I agree.

 

[tfong]

He'll look find with Kylington.

 

[Remember2004]

He can be the new "The Anton" Or whatever his name was.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Engelland is still awful. Brodie is just amazing.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Guys, Engelland is a bottom pairing dman, period. I'm not really sure what people were expecting out of him. Like in actuality he's probably worth about 1.5 million, but before he signed here the perception of Calgary is that we were going to be a bottom 5 team. He had other multiple teams bidding on his services, so 2.9 is what it took for him to sign with the Flames.

Treliving identified a hole and that was that our defence was far too soft, they wanted a bigger dman that was physical and could clear the crease. Oh yeah, he also shoots right. People can complain about Engelland all they want, but the fact is that he is only type of dman on our backend that plays the style he does, and to be quite frank we could use another body that does what he does, so for that reason he is extremely important to our team. He's not awful skater, I rarely watch him and think he is incapable of keeping up with the tempo of play.

He's a big body, he's physical, he blocks and hits, he clears the crease, he shoots right, he's a bottom pairing guy, and we had to overpay to get him for the reasons I mentioned above. If we moved out Engelland and replaced him with a smaller dman we would get worked over so bad when we play Western conference teams. Plus he's willing to drop the gloves so when Bollig is out of the lineup, Engelland's presence is that much more mandatory to prevent guys like Carcillo or Rinaldo from taking cheap shots at our players.

I really find criticism of him unwarranted personally, because if your expectations are in check he's done exactly what he was brought in to do.

I think criticism of Engelland is warranted because, as you mentioned, he's massively overpaid, and in addition to that he's not even a good bottom pairing dman. Yes, he's physical. Yes, he seems like a nice guy. But he doesn't belong on any pairing of a competitive NHL team (and yes, I realize the Flames weren't expected to be competitive; nevertheless, their bottom pairing has been nothing short of a raging garbage fire all year and Engelland is a big part of that).

I don't like Engelland having a regular roster spot with the Flames because, on the principle that a GM should fill each spot with the best players available to him, I think Diaz, Schlemko, probably even Wotherspoon or Cundari, would be better options than Engelland. This is completely ignoring the possible nuances of "good in the lockerroom" and so on, I realize, but based on on-ice capability, Treliving inexplicably paid three million a year to a guy who's performing the role/capability of a sub-million dollar guy.

 

[Snakepit]

His contract aside, he's a decent, tough bottom pairing d-man. If he was paired with a better puck mover, not Smid and Diaz, I think everyone would have a different opinion.

He's not a top 4 guy, but he's not supposed to be and I like what he brings as a 6/7. Just wish he brought it for less money.

I could see Schlemko - Engelland being a solid bottom pairing