Hello guys.
I'd just like to ask, how good is Josh Manson defensively only?
And how would you rank your defencemen as a defensive ability as an only attribute. Not puckmoving skills etc. Just pure ability to prevent shots/scoring chances.
When looking Manson's stats, he looks unreal. Also Kevin Bieksa is getting a lot of negative slack in all discussions. Is he really that bad?
When he's on his game, Manson is pretty good, with room to get even better. Plays hard, plays physical, and he just brings a good all-around defensive game. I don't think he has any real defensive weakness, as far as potential goes. He can do a lot of things well. Not great, but well. He's inconsistent though, and when he's not playing sharp he's pretty bad. His stats are a little misleading, if you're looking at them strictly as a testament to his defensive game. He's not
that good, but there is definitely potential there, and he shows a lot of it when he's on. He reminds me a lot of Beauchemin, albeit in a lesser form.
Bieksa is... bleh. Okay, so he's overpaid. Let's get that out of the way. Bieksa is not worth his price tag, and he should not be in a top pairing role. Unfortunately, that's exactly the role he found himself in through long periods in the season. On top of that, and especially early on, he seemed to take the opportunity he had with Lindholm, and then with Fowler, as a chance to show off how much he could impact the game. He was sloppy, made poor decisions, and seemed to think he was Scott Niedermayer. The only regular who frustrated me more, in terms of poor decisions, was Despres.
When he settles down, he can be pretty solid. Not worthy of his price tag solid, but he's got talent and good physical tools, but he isn't the same player he once was, and he just needs to learn how to play within himself more. Ideally, and when he keeps it simple, he's a 4/5 guy who can log plenty of minutes.