Rumor: Avs Proposals/Rumors/Free Agents 18-19 part XVIII| what's going on with the team ?

[Bender]

So what have you guys been talking about the last day or so?

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

So what have you guys been talking about the last day or so?

A scholarly debate about the benefits and disadvantages of Snowflakes vs. Snowballs.

 

[OwenNolan]

The Lightning are clearly the best team in the league by a solid margin right now and they definitely aren’t a “big” team. Skill and smarts are what matter most, now in saying that you still need some size in your lineup but it’s way less important than it used to be. Now obviously the ideal situation is getting someone like Malkin/Hedman who are big guys who can skate and have oodles of talent. But obviously those players are hard to get.

I think the Avs are fine size wise defensively. Where I think they could use an extra big guy or 2 is in the bottom 6. Switch Ghetto out for a solid bottom 6’er who’s 6’2 225 and I think that’d be awesome.

I wasn't talking about our forward group. I was talking about our defense and how exposed we would be if Makar, Barrie and Girard are all on the same team.

But speaking of TB:

Victor Hedman - 6'6, 225
Dan Girardi - 6'1, 215
Ryan McDonough - 6'1, 215
Erik Cernak - 6'4, 225
Braydon Colbourn - 6'5, 225
Mikhael Sergachev - 6'3, 215
Antone Stralman - 5'11, 190

They have one guy out of 7 under 215 pounds.

Compare that to us:

Tyson Barrie - 5'10, 190
Sam Girard - 5'10, 165
Cale Makar - 5'11, 190
Mark Barberio - 6'1, 195

It's fantastic that guys in here are telling me the game is changing yet the best team in the league has a defensive group full of beasts. And we would have 3 or 4 guys at 190 pounds. Good luck with that.

I used to play Semi Pro. We were all 6'3, 225+. As soon as we took the ice and saw our opponents, especially the defense, were small and undersized we had already won the game. Now that was 1 game. Imagine going 7 games in a violent playoff series vs TB and those Dmen. It wears on you and eventually you tap out.

 

[OwenNolan]

I'm much more concerned with our size up front than on the backend. I'm no size queen but we have too many Jost/Kerfoot/Sven/Nieto sized guys, need some big bodies even if they're not overly physical.

*cough* Hayes *cough*

Which goes to show you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

 

[OwenNolan]

I'm not sure about the first two (since they're basically just his stats and not any real insight) but the last FC Hockey one is from October 2016, it's 2019 now.

So what? Do you think he will magically come in and be able to control power forwards down low or infront of the net? No chance.

Having 1 or 2 guys like that may be ok on the back end but 1 on each pair is a recipe for disaster.

Blame our goaltending all you want but a physical defense able to clear the front of the net and win puck battles in the corners is a goaltenders best friend.

 

[Foppberg]

 

[UncleRisto]

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Different time, I know, but our Cup winning 2001 defense:

6’0”/219 - 6’3”/222
6’3”/218 - 6’2”/226
6’3/226 - 6’2”/205

Ray Bourque was the “smallest” of them all and he was built like a tree trunk.

That group made opposing forwards PAY.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

People still pushing the size thing... sigh.

 

[blundluntman]

Roy was pretty big on size too if I remember. That didn't go too well...

 

[Foppberg]

Obviously you can't be too small but having 2 small guys isn't going to make or break a defense.

 

[henchman21]

The Caps just won a Cup with a defense of: 6'3" 218lbs - 6'3" 217 lbs - 6'1" 203lbs - 6' 194 lbs - 6' 169lbs - 5'11" 212 lbs - 5'11" 199lbs

 

[Ivan13]

The Caps just won a Cup with a defense of: 6'3" 218lbs - 6'3" 217 lbs - 6'1" 203lbs - 6' 194 lbs - 6' 169lbs - 5'11" 212 lbs - 5'11" 199lbs

Penguins were hardly bruisers as well.

To expand this, Makar isn't small, nor will he have trouble with bigger forwards. Then you have other three Ds who could be any of EJ, Zadorov, Timmins, Meloche, Cole ... There is no size concern at all.

 

[RockLobster]

Which goes to show you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Iceberg]

Now, between Barrie, Girard and Makar one of them will have to kill penalties regularly if all three are in the line up, which one will it be?

 

[henchman21]

Now, between Barrie, Girard and Makar one of them will have to kill penalties regularly if all three are in the line up, which one will it be?

Girard... There was an example of Tampa's defense thrown out... their best PK player is their smallest defensemen.