I really like Garrison but he can be a liability at times. Not a lot, but it's enough to worry me. I know people say, well that's a penalty he has to take. But, if he had have just moved his feet he wouldn't be in that position. A key example would be in either Calgary game we played recently. I think he can do a good job offensively, and do alright in his own zone, but he just doesn't seem to be able to make that good defensive play on the rush.
I don't think you can say that Garrison is unable to make that good defensive play off the rush, he does it often. And usually it's a very simple, safe, uneventful action. Garrison is right at home defending off the rush, as long as everything around him is predictable. He clearly shows high defensive IQ with his positioning, stickwork and stick positioning, and the way he waits plays out.
But in those plays like where he took the penalty, when things break down and go sour in a hurry...i think you're right. He just really doesn't have the footspeed to cope and adjust in time. It gets him into trouble at times. The change of direction stuff, the short area quickness, the lateral movement. Say 90+% of the time, Garrison manages to use his positioning to avoid foot races...but when things go south and it's 'last resort' stuff where he ends up in a short-area battle, it exposes a hole in his game.
But as a 2nd pairing defenceman, they're all going to have holes. That's the way it goes...it's just a matter of counteracting that. And i think that's why we continue to see him paired with Hamhuis, despite the fact that the 2nd pairing is a trainwreck and the 'top-pairing' isn't as good as it can be, leaving Hamhuis to make a lot of the snap decisions and play the aggressor role defensively...where he clearly isn't as comfortable and makes a ton more mistakes.
I worry though, that Garrison isn't exactly the 'defensive rock' many make him out to be...if he can't play with a player like Edler. And i also worry that in a best of 7 series where teams focus their scouting directly on exposing 'weaknesses' on the opposing team...we're going to see a team target Garrison in ways that exploit his lack of footspeed in quick snap decision situations.
