Line Combos: Defense pairings for 23/24

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[Hale The Villain]

Kleven AINEC.

He has more potential and may be better already. Looked fantastic in his stint with the big club.

JBD could carve out a career but because he's eligible for waivers next year his value is pretty low.

I'd peg Kleven's value as a mid-late 1st and JBDs as a mid-round pick.

 

[Micklebot]

I like JBD but Kleven checks so many of the boxes

Huge and uses his size
Good skater
Younger

College production is close enough, and while JBD has been better than given credit for in the AHL, there's no doubt Kleven currently holds more value.

 

[bicboi64]

I think Kleven is more valuable as an asset in a move, but I think JBD is more ready to make an impact for the big club than Kleven. JBD has been cooking longer and plays a safer game over Kleven, who could theoretically come in and be fine, but I want to let him dominate in Belleville

 

[dumbdick]

JBD is better.

 

[Ouroboros]

Kleven obviously more valuable, and probably better right now as well.

 

[Silky Johnson]

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.

I would hate to read the rest of your book....

Chabot is on virtually every top 30 (or even 20) list of NHL defenders. Sure he had a rough patch but to suggest he is a bottom pairing defender now is....ridiculous.

As long as we are healthy, Chabot will have reasonable minutes, the most favourable match ups of his career and a consistent & well placed D partner.

He will be fine.

 

[Micklebot]

As long as we are healthy, Chabot will have reasonable minutes, the most favourable match ups of his career and a consistent & well placed D partner.

Yeah, I see the new found depth as a potential boon for Chabot,

Chabot broke out in Ceci's last year here, and when Ceci was here, right or wrong, he was used as a shut down defender getting the teams toughest mins, opening up more offensive deployment for the Chabot DeMelo pairing.

I think with Sanderson, Zub and Chychrun, there's going to be at least another pair that can eat some tough mins, we don't need to shelter Chabot, but if we can take some load off him it should really help.

If the third pair can be trusted for regular shifts it will help spread the load further, Brannstrom has taken some good steps this past season, if JBD, Thomson or Kleven can show enough to be trusted it bodes well for us.

 

[aragorn]

I could see a Kleven & Hamonic 3rd pairing to give them a little more size & toughness on the backend. Hamonic could be a decent mentor for Kleven as he was with Sanderson last yr although I doubt Kleven will need Hamonic to jump in if someone wants to fight Kleven. Re-signing Hamonic means more depth & also gives the young defence a little more time to mature & grow into their positions.

Of course, if they don't move at least one defenceman the numbers could force Kleven to start in Belleville, but he's probably good enough now to start in the NHL depending on what happens with some of the one way contracts.

 

[Silky Johnson]

Yeah, I see the new found depth as a potential boon for Chabot,

Chabot broke out in Ceci's last year here, and when Ceci was here, right or wrong, he was used as a shut down defender getting the teams toughest mins, opening up more offensive deployment for the Chabot DeMelo pairing.

I think with Sanderson, Zub and Chychrun, there's going to be at least another pair that can eat some tough mins, we don't need to shelter Chabot, but if we can take some load off him it should really help.

If the third pair can be trusted for regular shifts it will help spread the load further, Brannstrom has taken some good steps this past season, if JBD, Thomson or Kleven can show enough to be trusted it bodes well for us.

Agree

The D will be at least ok.

If Sanderson takes a big step, Chychrun & Chabot both have good years and Zub is Healthy they could be very good.

A solid third pairing out of Kleven, JBD, Thompson and Brannstrom would help alot.

A lot of "ifs" but how many teams have 3 plausible 1D's?

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Sanderson Chychrun
Chabot Zub
Brannstrom JBD

Terrible 3rd pairing.

Sanderson-Chychrun
Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-Schenn/Gudas

We need size and experience in that 3rd pair. One injury to top 4 RD and we are scrambling allllllll oveerrrrr again.

 

[guyzeur]

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.

 

[JD1]

Agree

The D will be at least ok.

If Sanderson takes a big step, Chychrun & Chabot both have good years and Zub is Healthy they could be very good.

A solid third pairing out of Kleven, JBD, Thompson and Brannstrom would help alot.

A lot of "ifs" but how many teams have 3 plausible 1D's?

How many teams have 4 bona-fide top 4 D?

Few.

 

[JD1]

Terrible 3rd pairing.

Sanderson-Chychrun
Chabot-Zub
Brannstrom-Schenn/Gudas

We need size and experience in that 3rd pair. One injury to top 4 RD and we are scrambling allllllll oveerrrrr again.

One injury in the top 4 and Brannstrom plays top 4 minutes where he's shown repeatedly over the past two seasons that he can handle the ice time

A lot of teams don't have 4 top 4 D. We probably have 5. And we've got JBD and Hamonic (assumng he signs)that can do spot duty. It's the best setup we've had since the 2000s. By far.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

One injury in the top 4 and Brannstrom plays top 4 minutes where he's shown repeatedly over the past two seasons that he can handle the ice time

A lot of teams don't have 4 top 4 D. We probably have 5. And we've got JBD and Hamonic (assumng he signs)that can do spot duty. It's the best setup we've had since the 2000s. By far.

I truly feel our greatest strength will be on D (and hopefully in goal) on any success we will have in the future.

If we can find a top 4 D who we can get for excellent value, we should pursue it without question. I also feel Brannstrom will fall out of favor when playoffs come around as we have repeatedly seen from sub6 defenders over past few years.

 

[Cosmix]

I would hate to read the rest of your book....

Chabot is on virtually every top 30 (or even 20) list of NHL defenders. Sure he had a rough patch but to suggest he is a bottom pairing defender now is....ridiculous.

As long as we are healthy, Chabot will have reasonable minutes, the most favourable match ups of his career and a consistent & well placed D partner.

He will be fine.

Yes he is better than Senator posted; however I agree that some "coaching" is required to reduce his high risk-taking and lackadaisical play, plus to have him play a more physical game.

 

[Cosmix]

I truly feel our greatest strength will be on D (and hopefully in goal) on any success we will have in the future.

If we can find a top 4 D who we can get for excellent value, we should pursue it without question. I also feel Brannstrom will fall out of favor when playoffs come around as we have repeatedly seen from sub6 defenders over past few years.

Brannstrom has shown great improvement in his play and I hope he will continue to improve as he gains more experience. I hope we can develop or obtain a big physical defenceman to play with him. Kelvin might become that D man.

I doubt that the Senators will sign a top 4 D man anytime soon given that we already have Chabot, Zub, Sanderson and Chychrun in the top 4. I think we may sign Hamonic as the 6th D and keep one of Bernard-Docker or Thomson or Guennette as the 7th D. Kelvin will likely plays in the AHL for awhile unless he performs exceptionally well at training camp and in pre-season games.