Alexei Emelin - Future # 1 Defenseman?

[Myron Gaines*]

Holy this is only my second threat here at HF... and 5 pages :3 haha off topic sorry
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You've achieved what I haven't been able to achieve in 7 years.

 

[Mr. Hab]

Emelin as #1 dman? (good to be positive, but...).


I'm just hoping Emelin can imitate the strong/smart/simple Defensive game that Gorges and Subban provide for our Habs.
Keep it simple and smart and Emelin can be a solid #4 dman.
Emelin just has to make the ''small'' plays, keep it simpe/smart and he should be very valuable to our Habs.
That's what I think most of us are hoping for, but #1 dman? he's going to ask for 5mil/year+ if that happens!! (we have Subban for that and hopefully that new UFA iron man top 3 dman we'll acquire in the near future!).

 

[overlords]

You've achieved what I haven't been able to achieve in 7 years.

Some of us are gifted, I suppose.

 

[dcyhabs]

Not sure how you get that his best games were bad. He is solid positionally and makes a good first pass. We saw very few glaring mistakes which is a good thing for a d-man. Not sure where you saw that he was terrible defensively. He had a few rough spots early on, no doubt a result of new language, ice size and system, but after taht you barely noticed him out there.

Big hits do have an impact, it changes how the opposition plays as they now have to carefully go in the corners or skate through center ice instaed of just focusing on offense, so they won't be as effective as otherwise.

Who's "we"? Guys blew by him frequently for goals on plays he really should have broken up. I've heard it was mostly when he was on his off side but he got beaten badly a lot. He had some good plays as well but he had some glaring misses for a large, physical, shutdown guy.

At least you can teach defense. There's still hope for Beaulieu, Emelin, Diaz, even Kaberle I suppose...

Admittedly Emelin was pretty much the only guy making other teams hesitate on zone entries last year. Before that teams would play the habs differently from the 25 or 26 teams that had more physical D, just waltz into the zone and set up instead of slowing and bracing for impact. A marked contrast to how habs forwards other than Cole and Pac hit the offensive zone.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

That is bold considering he's the best defenseman on this team.

Subban is head and shoulders above Gorges and has been the minute he stepped on NHL ice. When Subban is on the ice we are hot hemmed in our own zone.

After Subban, yeah.. but that only speaks to the fact Markov has been injured, and that we have a bad team.

 

[MasterDecoy]

Emelin and Diaz will be a luxury on the third pairing going forward.

exactly what i was thinking...

it's been a while but diaz plays the right side right? and while emelin can 'play' the right side, he is much more comfortable and able to deliver his hits from the left side. seems like a match made in heaven no? match them against smaller, less offensive lines and they should prosper i think.

emelin with markov seems natural except markov can't play right, and emelin isn't the emelin we know and love on the right side.