Love Heiskanen - he's a dynamite all-situations minute eater who still manages to generate scoring while mitigating goals against. I'm hoping Dahlin gets to Miro's d-zone prowess as he develops.
Oh he will, Dahlin's biggest issues last year were due to physical limitations. Not having the man strength to remove a player from the puck along the boards. He'd also lose stamina quickly, and get a bit careless due to fatigue. We saw him slow down last year as the season wore on. He had the body of a teenage kid. It's insane that he played top-4 minutes, and performed the way he did.Love Heiskanen - he's a dynamite all-situations minute eater who still manages to generate scoring while mitigating goals against. I'm hoping Dahlin gets to Miro's d-zone prowess as he develops.
dahlin gets less 5 on 5 time than colin miller. There's a reason why he's "deployed" like that.Are there any actual stats to back up the claim that Heiskanen is superior defensively? I'm not saying he isn't as I barely watch Dallas, but what is this based on? Ice time or zone starts doesn't cut it, that's about deployment and not performance.
interesting, considering what team myers was drafted by. coincidence?These Dahlin vs Miro debates remind me of the Myers vs Doughty ones 10 years ago
Because he's struggled a little bit defensively this year, and they are doing the proper coaching thing and letting him earn his minutes. Not because he's zomg awful defensively.dahlin gets less 5 on 5 time than colin miller. There's a reason why he's "deployed" like that.
Because he's struggled a little bit defensively this year, and they are doing the proper coaching thing and letting him earn his minutes. Not because he's zomg awful defensively.
No. His superior minutes come from the Sabres not needing Dahlin to play those minutes because our defense is much better and he doesn't need to be relied on as much.Ohhh so you acknowledge that Heiskanen's superior minutes are due to him NOT struggling defensively like Dahlin and being defensively sound is first and foremost the most important part about being a good dman?
LOL at calling a defense with Rasmus Ristolainen leading the team in minutes, "superior." Dallas made the playoffs last year, BUDDY. Where did the sabres finish? If you think these handful of games to the start of the season is indicative of what's going to happen throughout the remainder of the season, i'd like you to look into the sabres start last year as reference.No. His superior minutes come from the Sabres not needing Dahlin to play those minutes because our defense is much better and he doesn't need to be relied on as much.
It's clearly Heiskanen for me. I mean look at Dahlin, hes hideous. Especially for a super Swede.
Ohhh so you acknowledge that Heiskanen's superior minutes are due to him NOT struggling defensively like Dahlin and being defensively sound is first and foremost the most important part about being a good dman?
dahlin gets less 5 on 5 time than colin miller. There's a reason why he's "deployed" like that.
First off I will clearly state that it is EARLY in the season but some of these replies are absolutely insane to me and just wanted to layout what appears to be an actual logical look at this year so far re: Dahlin.
1. Again, it's early, but so far it looks like one of the areas that Krueger has really excelled at so far is situational player usage. He appears to really try and put lines and pairs in game situation he feels they are most likely to perform the best. In the case of Dahlin that is primarily offensive deployment. And so far it's hard to fault that usage. To start the season his expected goals for per 60 vs. his expected goals against is just insane:
oiGF/60: 5.9
oiGA/60: 1.1
He is being used so far where he can best contribute to the success of the team - and that's in providing offense. To say that his usage on the PP is not valid or bloats his stats is simply wrong. Did you stop to think that he is arguably the biggest reason the Sabres PP has been so successful so far? The PP runs through him - not through Jack Eichel. Krueger has shown plenty of faith in running Risto and McCabe out there to deal with the primary defense responsibility. He is, so far, putting players in a position to succeed at their strengths to the benefit of the team performance.
2. Is it such a good thing that Heiskenen has to be used in a much larger even strength and PK role at his age? Again - EARLY, I know - but his expected goals for and against are a net zero and he is running a negative corsi for the start of the year. I am in no way saying that I think this is a reflection of his talent because he looks like a damn impressive player. What I am saying is perhaps in reality he is misused in such a role right now and his ice time over Dahlin's might not be so much of a thing to gloat about. It might be a case of bad coaching and player situational misuse.
In short I think it's very flawed to try and point to Dahlin's lesser minutes and high PP usage as a flaw in any way. It appears to be smart coaching.
Heiskanen actually has more points and more than twice as many goals on even strength than Dahlin so far, the offensive difference in Dahlin's favor is exclusively due to his PP abilities. Defensemen also have defensive responsibilities, however, and that's where Dahlin hasn't really proven anything yet while Heiskanen plays 20+ minutes a night without sheltering. Maybe Dahlin will too eventually, but labeling him "a goat" at this point is laughable.
It's almost as if we added a couple of much better defenseman to our roster in the offseason and that Scandella fell off a cliff last season because of medical issues that are now no longer effecting him and now he's good again or something.LOL at calling a defense with Rasmus Ristolainen leading the team in minutes, "superior." Dallas made the playoffs last year, BUDDY. Where did the sabres finish? If you think these handful of games to the start of the season is indicative of what's going to happen throughout the remainder of the season, i'd like you to look into the sabres start last year as reference.
Well I always think its more impressive to realize greatness before its irrefutable.
I think we both know that if the Sabres offered Dahlin for Heiskanen the Stars are listening. Botterill maybe be a little slow, but he doesn't even take the call if Dallas makes the offer.
There is some notion that heisk is a lot better than dahlin defensively by the star fans, I must admit I do not watch every star game, but I don't see it the way it make it out to be. Opinions?
I see Heiskanen being comparable to Jokiharju.Heiskanen isn't even a clear winner vs Makar, he surely is not better then Dahlin who is a generational McDavid esque talent. There is a reason why Dahlin is one of THREE 18 year old dmen in the 100+ year history of the NHL to score 40+ points. Heiskanen didn't even make the NHL at 18, should we compare Dahlin this year vs Heiskanen last year? Thats how Leafs fans do it when its Eichel Vs Matthews, 16-17 doesn't "count" for Eichel since it was his 2nd year and Matthews first year when doing ppg from 16-19.
My brain hurts from reading how Dahlin is unproven defensively when has broken up several rushes this season including a couple of 1v3s