Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
- 52,323
- 31,476
Holden is a NHL defender. A 5, who can play up when needed, but he is a NHL defender. I still firmly believe that Barrie's partner is pretty irrelevant. Barrie excels with the puck on his stick, the more it is there, the better his game will be. Yeah a player who is better in his own zone would be nice for Barrie, but I don't think it hurts his game to play with lesser partners. With lesser partners, Barrie just needs smarter utilization. If Alzner wasn't falling off a cliff, he'd honestly be perfect. Good in the defensive zone, and could just feed Barrie the puck time and time again.
This is the problem I see with that. With lesser partners, he needs better utilization like you say. Which means they have to be uber selective in sheltering him. Which means he plays less minutes. Which means he's not contributing as much offensively, and he's not earning his $5.5M.
You also need a solid 1st and 2nd pairing in order to shelter him properly. The Avs don't really have either as of yet.
If you play him more minutes, that means more situations where he has to play without the puck. More situations where he and his D partner have to breakup plays to get the puck back, so he can contribute offensively.
This is precisely why he needs a solid defensive partner. He needs someone who can help cover up his weaknesses in his own zone, and help him break up plays and get the puck back. This will allow him to play more minutes.