Top 15 D prospects

[Attica]

Where's Erikanka Berubé ? I think is way better than guys like Babchuk or Weber, maybe top 5.

Then you'd be wrong.


Lets go for a list of "Prospects" as in player that have not played a game in the NHL yet.


BTW, Berube is nowhere near Weber.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Not a bad post, but people need to realize that, unlike Gonchar or Poti (to whom Whitney has oftern been compared), Whitney is rock-solid defensively. The whole reason why he is so good is because he is amazing defensively in addition to being great offensively.

And while I don't want to go overboard about Whitney (although some may say I already have ), I think I might have to agree with Master Shake in thinking that Whitney is already the best passer out of any defenseman in the league.

I agreed that in my post he is solid defensively, but if he chooses to, he could change his game to be like Sergei Gonchar. With correct develoment, he could be a Scott Niedermayer-like defenseman (great all-around). I believe the reason that Whitney is not well heralded for his defensive skill is because he likes to take risks in the offensive zone. He is not careless or reckless with the puck, but he does not always "play it safe." A good amount of the time, this results in a great scoring chance. Sometimes, he does get caught up ice or out of position, and this probably leads to the thinking that he is subpar defensively. But it's because he is creative.

 

[jmelm]

I agreed that in my post he is solid defensively, but if he chooses to, he could change his game to be like Sergei Gonchar. With correct develoment, he could be a Scott Niedermayer-like defenseman (great all-around). I believe the reason that Whitney is not well heralded for his defensive skill is because he likes to take risks in the offensive zone. He is not careless or reckless with the puck, but he does not always "play it safe." A good amount of the time, this results in a great scoring chance. Sometimes, he does get caught up ice or out of position, and this probably leads to the thinking that he is subpar defensively. But it's because he is creative.

Hmmm, personally I have not really seen any time so far in his NHL stint in which he has jumped up into the play that was blatantly dangerous and led to a scoring chance. He has actually been pretty conservative in this regard and has only really gone deep into the zone off a rush when there was a forward covering for him anyway.

Personally, I think that thoughts of Whitney not being great defensively stem from 2 things: 1) That perhaps in his early (ie pre-draft or college years) he was not a standout defensively; or 2) That because he has such extraordinary skill offensively, people just assume that he is an offensive defenseman in the mold of a Coffey/Gonchar/Poti-type of player. This could not be further from the truth. I actually think the the Niedermayer comparison is bang-on; not exactly in terms of their game being identical, but in that he can dominate at both ends of the ice and be smooth and poised like Niedermayer is. But Whitney has a considerably higher ceiling than Niedermayer does offensively, IMO.