Over-analyzing an event leads to wild conclusions. This team has gotten to 19 games over (fake) .500 with three very inexperienced Dmen (four, if you count Hanifin when it comes to being on a winning team) and it's not like the top pairing has been playing 30 minutes a night.
At this age, forwards are more cut and dry than Dmen. TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano weren't exactly making waves at 21-22 on worse Flames teams
Is there a chance that we'll be trading a Dman in the coming season or two? Yeah probably, but assessing who and who isn't dispensable with a 50 game body of work in the NHL is quite pointless
You are not wrong, but we still need to be discussing and projecting where we see the likes of Andersson, Hanifin, Kylington, Valimaki two, five, ten years from now and part of that is about assessing their basic instincts. Like when Kylington attacks a guy in the high slot and completely erases what could have been a shot, I see that as a positive going forward that could seriously impact our cup odds positively. When Andersson backs off on the trap I see a trend that is probably not going to magically go away.
Let me put it like this - 20, 21year old Phaneuf was valued over 20, 21 year old Giordano in the minors because of pedigree, but the red flags were all there already. They were masked to an extent by the likes of Hamrlik and Regehr, but they should have been analyzed better. I mean in retrospect we were better off with guys who passed through here, like Jordan Leopold but we let prospectitus blindfold us.
Personally, I think
- Kylington is going to be an impact defenseman. Whether that's a top pairing guy or an elite 2nd pairing guy I can't say, but he is the most valuable of our pieces.
- Valimaki is going to be a heckuva player. His offensive zone reads are already as strong as anyone and his overall game will alalow him to be a workhorse. Comparisions to Gio are probably extreme but he could be similar to Hamonic at the least.
- Hanifin will score in the NHL, but his two way upside is a mystery. He's a good player now, but not 5 million dollars good and that may be a consideration with Tkachuk, Bennett, and Rittich up for new deals. He is clearly carried by Hamonic defensively and his offense, while good, doesn't tip the scale to my eyes especially with how good the other two guys are.
- Andersson sees plays develop before they happen and is pretty fun to watch with the puck, but I think he will never be anything to write home about without the puck. I can't see him replacing Brodie or Hamonic who are both studs without the puck. His trade value is probably sky high though.
Personally knowing all that I would like to see us with some plans to have something like
Kylington-Brodie
Valimaki-Liljegren
Giordano-Fox (lol)
in the future