Should the sens have taking Staal over Lee?

[Minith55]

I am no expert in regards to the Senators depth, but who will replace Chara and Pothier next season? Any prospects ready to step in?

Thats y we got Price and corvo...both alot better than pothier, more offensive guys then shut-down type of guys.


that leaves the question....who will be our #1 shutdown player?.....philips?Volchenkov?shubert?......Lee will probably be an other offensive defender...moving the puck great, creating chances...kinda like redden, but he might turn out more elite then redden, maybe bcome our #1 defender

 

[Clutch Mediocrity]

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that leaves the question....who will be our #1 shutdown player?.....philips?Volchenkov?shubert?......Lee will probably be an other offensive defender...moving the puck great, creating chances...kinda like redden, but he might turn out more elite then redden, maybe bcome our #1 defender

I think the plan is that we won't really have and/or need a supreme shutdown defensemen ala Chara, in hopes that all of Volchenkov, Messzaros, and Phillips (Shubert? Lyamin?) - who are all very strong defensively - will be able to keep any opposing threat relatively contained. Maybe not totally shutdown like when Chara held Ovechkin to 1 shot this past season, but at the very least neutralized.

I remember for a brief stretch when Chara, Redden, and Phillips were all inujred at once last season. Mez and Volchenkov did a fine job of containing, though maybe not completely shutting down, the other team's stars. Most notably Jagr, who wasn't much of a factor when we played the Rangers without Big Z. Same when we faced a powerful Sabre offense without Chara. I'd expect something similar in the future, without being able to forsee any future trades, free agent signings, and draft picks.

 

[NyQuil]

I am no expert in regards to the Senators depth, but who will replace Chara and Pothier next season? Any prospects ready to step in?

Pothier is expected to be replaced by Joe Corvo.

Chara's minutes are going to have to be handled by newcomer Preissing, and potentially Meszaros and Volchenkov seeing increased minutes.

The top 6 will be: Redden, Phillips, Meszaros, Preissing, Volchenkov, Corvo, with Schubert as the 7th.

 

[NYR469]

i think staal is better (although i'm probably biased as a ranger fan) but you can't make this assessment until either or both guys make it to the nhl...obviously if 5 years from now staal is a top pair guy and lee is struggling to make it in the nhl you can say they should have picked staal. but just because staal is rated higher right now that doesn't mean that lee won't be a very good nhl dman too.

 

[xander]

considering that his older brother is a superstar who just won a cup, and that his younger brother was just selected #2 overall (to say nothing of his own achievments) it's mind boggling how many people still can't spell Marc's last name right. Staal! two a's, one l, it's not that hard people.

::end rant::

as for the discussion at hand, I agree with the idea that the sens had the luxery of taking the riskier prospect and that it wasn't a bad move.

Still, it's hard to argue that Staal isn't better now, and I do think that his offensive potential is being undersold a bit. We're not talking about a guy with hands of stone here, he can move the puck, even if the defensive aspect of his game will always be more impressive. He probably projects to being a very good two-way dman (with more of a defensive emphasis) than just being purely a shutdown guy. I like the Ohlund comparisons.

 

[Mysterion]

It's about organizational needs. Ottawa has young studs Meszaros and Volchenkov, as well as Redden, Phillips, Corvo and Preissing. Stall would not have an opening for two years and the team is banking on the fact that Lee will replace Redden one day. I think both teams made the right choise, but especially Ottawa going with Lee because the do not have room for another young defender ATM.

 

[X-SHARKIE]

I like both a lot, I think Marc will be the better all around defender who is stronger in his own zone.... but Lee is the better skater and puck mover between the two and could be a big asset to the power play some day.

Ottawa made no mistake taking Lee at 9.