he had some good offensive play in the second and, apart from the usual moments, he played well, which he has done recently.
This is not good play.
Like, any middling AHL defender will have games and stretches where they 'get by'. Getting by for half a game before getting badly exposed on multiple goals is horrible, horrible play.
So far this year he has had 3-4 games where he 'got by' in limited minutes and 3-4 games where he was one of the worst players on the ice. That sucks.
krutovsdonut said:
where we are potentially headed with this player is the exact same place we went with sbisa. if he improves overall can we handle and forgive the pizzas? is there any reason to think they are not always going to be there? sbisa answered that question last june about as emphatically as it can be answered. i think there is some existential universal truth in that event and a lesson for gms. once you are in a position to choose, you have to move those guys no matter what they bring to the room and most of the game.
life is tough for flawed dmen. if you carve out a solid career it may still be forever defined by the times your weaknesses were exposed.
Well, yeah.
When you're a 5-8 point/season defender who is a total liability transitioning the puck and contributing offensively, in order to be an asset at this level you have to be an absolute defensive standout - like a Robyn Regehr.
If you're that sort of terrible transitional defender and then are only mediocre/average defensive and prone to major lapses ... that means you're a really bad player at this level.
Same as Sbisa. Same in reverse for a guy like Jordan Subban who would be average offensively but really bad defensively at this level.