Yeah, that's definitely why so many of us have high hopes for Cernak. And you do make a very good point that it is rather comforting to be able to toss McStrals out against any line anytime.
It's just been rather weird to see McStrals getting pretty much top pairing time compared to Hedman, even with Heddy getting 4 PP shifts last night.
Yeah, but it's hard to argue with the results. The only game we've given up more the two goals was the game where we gave up two empty netters. Drastic change from last season.
To me, it just feels like we have a lot more control in games. Even when we're a little pinned in our zone, it feels like, for the most part, the team has things under control, and I'm not holding my breath every time the opponent makes a solid pass. Richards > Bowness, I guess. But we kind of knew that would be the case. I just don't think we knew how MUCH it would be the case. If this trend continues, I think you have to put a little bit of blame on Yzerman for keeping Bowness so long.
ADD: I want to give some credit to Vasy for this. His rebound control is still his biggest weakness, as well as finding pucks that hit him and fall near his feet, but it's not as "wild" as it was toward the end of last year, where pucks were just sort of springing off him at random. Rebound control goes a long way to help the defense clamp down on the opposing teams' top lines, IMO.
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