My personal observation is that he is too offensive minded and makes several defensive mistakes (although not as many as Yandle did). I like D-men to focus on their position first and then develop their scoring touch.
Looking at the lines, we have OEL, Connauton, and Stone as offense-oriented D-men, so we should never pair two of them together (except on the PP). That leaves Murphy and Michalek as our other roster D-men (Dahlbeck is marginal).
I only "phase him out" because he has the greatest value of the players I'd be willing to move and could possibly land us a Veteran D-man or 2nd line forward. I think Murphy is more skilled (defensively), no one would really want Connauton (for a good return), Dahlbeck is inconsistent at best, and Michalek would be difficult to move (salary and the fact that we need at least 1 veteran D-man).
Value to the team:
- OEL (umm, he's OEL)
- Murphy (Strong defensive and physical D-man)
- Stone (Offensive player but sketchy on defense)
- Michalek (Defensive D-man)
- Connauton (offensive but inconsistent)
- Dahlbeck (inconsistent and struggling--needs one more year in the A)
- Grossmann (slow and too expensive--please don't re-sign)
So, I don't see him as an inferior player, but more as our most valuable D-man (OEL is untouchable) to help the team improve.