Line Combos: Defense pairings for 23/24

[SweSensFan]

I know I am not the coach or GM and neither are 99% of posters on here so please spare us those comments. With that said let's bring our ideas and suggestions on how to play the defense pairings next season. Also who, if anyone, should be traded??

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[Pierre from Orleans]

Interchange the top 4 of Chabot, Sanderson, Chychrun, Zub

Need size on the bottom pairing which can be obtained through free agency

 

[Ouroboros]

Sanderson-Zub
Chychrun-Brannstrom
Chabot-Schenn

 

[Sun God Nika]

What I want.

Sanderson - Zub
Chabot - Chychrun
Kleven - Hamonic

What I expect
Sanderson - Zub
Chabot - Chychrun
Brannstrom - JBD

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Sanderson Chychrun
Chabot Zub
Kleven Hamonic
Brannstrom

 

[aragorn]

Trade: Brannstrom or Thomson.

Chabot - Chychrun
Sanderson - Zub/JBD
Kleven - Hamonic/Thomson

 

[Micklebot]

I suspect we'll run with who we have unless there's a trade, so...

Chabot-Chychrun - offensive mins
Sanderson-Zub. - matchup pair
Brannstrom-Kleven/JBD. - somewhat sheltered

 

[Emerica]

Sanderson Chychrun
Chabot Zub
Kleven Hamonic
Brannstrom

My perfect scenario as well. Perhaps Kleven starts in the A and gets more minutes to get used to the pro game and comes up later on but this is my preferred pairings. Hoping Hamonic takes a cheap deal to stay

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

My perfect scenario as well. Perhaps Kleven starts in the A and gets more minutes to get used to the pro game and comes up later on but this is my preferred pairings. Hoping Hamonic takes a cheap deal to stay

I liked Kleven's audition at the end of the year. If he has a good camp and shows more of his complete game .. I want him up ..
If he struggles he can go down for a bit.

 

[Stylizer1]

Karlsson and........

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Karlsson and........

Jonny Oduya

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Sanderson-Zub
Chychrun-Brannstrom
Chabot-Schenn

I really like this.

And then we can see Kleven pushing out Brannstrom or we grab a rental if need be.

I love Brann, but don't see us being effective in playoffs with 5'10 d man who isn't a ferocious bull like Ellis.

IMO we gotta bring someone in with size and good skating in bottom pair. I guess bringing back Hamonic as number 6 defender won't be overly terrible:

Chabot-Zub
Sanderson-Chychrun
Brannstrom-Hamonic

I just don't like that bottom pair. All depends big if Brannstrom takes a big step. I'd rather have someone with better foot speed than Hamonic anyway.

 

[Wondercarrot]

If we don’t sign ADB, and can move out Joseph.
Bring me Radko Gudas and Tyler Bertuzzi!

 

[Stylizer1]

Jonny Oduya

He'd probably come out of retirement if that was the case.

 

[SENATOR]

Chabot has a lot of bad habits the new head coach has to fix. In my book he is a bottom pair.

- inaccurate passing. Only those soft behind the net shovel passes cost us at least 6 points and playoffs.

-Bad reads

-Giveaways

-Not a good PP d-man or PK

-Does not have a good shot from the point. Wrist shot sucks too.

-Soft defending

And so on.

Last season grade C- Not good enough for first or second pair. He would be a disaster during payoffs.

 

[ottawah]

I liked Kleven's audition at the end of the year. If he has a good camp and shows more of his complete game .. I want him up ..
If he struggles he can go down for a bit.

I'd always be cautious of reading too much into a college players first few games they tend to be good in general as their college lack of schedule allows them to be very fresh. And he was very heavily sheltered. I'm expecting a few years of AHL conditioning to be honest, but always hope he can make the leap.

 

[bicboi64]

Sanderson Chychrun
Chabot Zub
Brannstrom JBD

 

[armani]

Chabot has a lot of bad habits the new head coach has to fix. In my book he is a bottom pair.

- inaccurate passing. Only those soft behind the net shovel passes cost us at least 6 points and playoffs.

-Bad reads

-Giveaways

-Not a good PP d-man or PK

-Does not have a good shot from the point. Wrist shot sucks too.

-Soft defending

And so on.

Last season grade C- Not good enough for first or second pair. He would be a disaster during payoffs.

Inaccurate passing and giveaways - a lot of them stems from playing 25+ minutes a night in front of questionable goaltending/team in front. Chabot had a tough outing last season, with Sanderson and Chychrun in the fold I think he will play more reasonable minutes to maximize his time on ice while minimizing errors.

Chabot is part of the solution, not the problem (yet).

 

[Cosmix]

I really like this.

And then we can see Kleven pushing out Brannstrom or we grab a rental if need be.

I love Brann, but don't see us being effective in playoffs with 5'10 d man who isn't a ferocious bull like Ellis.

IMO we gotta bring someone in with size and good skating in bottom pair. I guess bringing back Hamonic as number 6 defender won't be overly terrible:

Chabot-Zub
Sanderson-Chychrun
Brannstrom-Hamonic

I just don't like that bottom pair. All depends big if Brannstrom takes a big step. I'd rather have someone with better foot speed than Hamonic anyway.

I think the 6 D you identified could be OK next season:
Chabot-Zub
Sanderson-Chychrun
Brannstrom-Hamonic

I am not convinced that Kelvin, JBD or Thompson would be better than Hamonic on the 3rd pair. I am also not certain that Hamonic would sign here for 1 or 2 more seasons at a low salary that would fit within the budget and salary cap next season. It is disappointing that JBD and Thomson have not shown more than they have so far.

 

[Sensinitis]

Down to re-sign Hamonic, competitive player not too old still, can play up the lineup if needed and is basically an upgraded more physical version of what Holden was for us at his best.

Hopefully the top 4 can stay healthy. With the help of a good coach that group can do great things.

 

[JD1]

Start with what you know

When asked at the year end presser who exceeded expectations, I think the second name mentioned was Brannstrom so the org likes him and he provides versatility

JBD only played 41 games for Belleville but was the D man of the year for the team. He isn't eligible for waivers

What does that leave ?

Chabot, Chychrun, Zub, Sanderson in some top 4 configuration
Brannstrom JBD as a bottom pair

Hamonic wants to sign and stay. Hopefully that happens

Kleven looks to me like the odd man out and the first callup.

That's 8 guys.

Last year we used 14, the year prior 12 and in 18-19 (skipped two years because they weren't 82 game seasons) we used 15 guys.

At the end of the day, we're developing some depth and probably the best result for the team is any combo of the 8 guys I mentioned that maximizes how much they play.

We need health. I think all 8 can play.

 

[Micklebot]

Start with what you know

When asked at the year end presser who exceeded expectations, I think the second name mentioned was Brannstrom so the org likes him and he provides versatility

JBD only played 41 games for Belleville but was the D man of the year for the team. He isn't eligible for waivers

What does that leave ?

Chabot, Chychrun, Zub, Sanderson in some top 4 configuration
Brannstrom JBD as a bottom pair

Hamonic wants to sign and stay. Hopefully that happens

Kleven looks to me like the odd man out and the first callup.

That's 8 guys.

Last year we used 14, the year prior 12 and in 18-19 (skipped two years because they weren't 82 game seasons) we used 15 guys.

At the end of the day, we're developing some depth and probably the best result for the team is any combo of the 8 guys I mentioned that maximizes how much they play.

We need health. I think all 8 can play.

I tend to agree with you on this, assuming Hamonic is re-signed or we go out and get another RHD, Kleven's waiver exempt status likely puts him in Belleville.

Wrt using 14, 12, and 15 different D in the last few seasons, I expect that number to drop as we mature as a team. When you look at the last few years, we've been searching for someone to fill in a hole on the backend. This year we should be going in with a more clear idea of who our top 9 are and don't have the same number of prospects we want to get a look at, so we won't have the same situation where we call up a Larsson or a Heatherington unless we get really desperate.

Top 4 depth is pretty clear.

Brannstrom, Hamonic (if signed), JBD, Kleven, Guénette and Thomson round out the top 8 and primary callup options (waiver status might influence who stays up at first). We probably need a couple AHL guys like Larsson and Heatherington in case of emergency, but I don't expect to go deeper than that because we haven't got the situation where we are searching for an answer, or worried about bouncing top prospects around.

Tldr, if the over under for how many D we use is 12.5, and im taking the under. Risky I guess with Chabot, Zub and Chychrun's injury history...

 

[JD1]

I tend to agree with you on this, assuming Hamonic is re-signed or we go out and get another RHD, Kleven's waiver exempt status likely puts him in Belleville.

Wrt using 14, 12, and 15 different D in the last few seasons, I expect that number to drop as we mature as a team. When you look at the last few years, we've been searching for someone to fill in a hole on the backend. This year we should be going in with a more clear idea of who our top 9 are and don't have the same number of prospects we want to get a look at, so we won't have the same situation where we call up a Larsson or a Heatherington unless we get really desperate.

Top 4 depth is pretty clear.

Brannstrom, Hamonic (if signed), JBD, Kleven, Guénette and Thomson round out the top 8 and primary callup options (waiver status might influence who stays up at first). We probably need a couple AHL guys like Larsson and Heatherington in case of emergency, but I don't expect to go deeper than that because we haven't got the situation where we are searching for an answer, or worried about bouncing top prospects around.

Tldr, if the over under for how many D we use is 12.5, and im taking the under. Risky I guess with Chabot, Zub and Chychrun's injury history...

By way of comparison, Boston used 12,13,12 in the same 3 seasons. Some of that might have been giving a prospect a couple games at year end but idk, I don't follow that closely

I mentioned those 8 guys and think our best case scenario is at no point needing a 9th guy because of injury. If we get that, we've had a good year.

 

[dumbdick]

Brann was quietly very good to finish off the season and I think it would be a big mistake to cut bait on him. He's adapted his style and I think he's going to have a long career in this league. I expect to even see a bit more offense creep back into his game now that he's patched up a lot of the holes.


Some dmen just follow winding development paths and have to shift the way they play. We've already endured through the hard part; don't lose him now when he's coming out the other side.

 

[Micklebot]

By way of comparison, Boston used 12,13,12 in the same 3 seasons. Some of that might have been giving a prospect a couple games at year end but idk, I don't follow that closely

I mentioned those 8 guys and think our best case scenario is at no point needing a 9th guy because of injury. If we get that, we've had a good year.

Not needing a 9th guy is pretty rare I would think.

There's also the potential of trading for an upgrade at the deadline, a team like Boston has historically added guys for their playoff push, like Orlov, Lindholm, and J.Brown, while we tended to trade away UFA. Either way it will theoretically push you to or past that 9 number.