This is an excellent Post
@HanSolo . IIRC you are quite busy but I’d suggest that you consider expanding this concept into a short Article. Well done.
I mean it does come from a place of bias. I've always felt that offense from defenders is far less important than their defensive contribution. I grew up admiring guys like Lidstrom, Pronger, Niedermayer, Chelios, Chara, etc. Guys who could put up a ton of points but were also a nightmare to play against in their own zone. For me I'll take the guy that isn't very offensively gifted but can be relied on to keep the puck out of good shooting lanes and away from the crease over the guy who gets 35 points but constantly gets burned in his own zone every single time. IMO, a defenseman's first and foremost job is defense and every goal they prevent is FAR more valuable than any goal they assist on.
As the league evolves we're starting to see a lot of defensemen who are basically just a fourth forward. Guys like Burns, Barrie, Vatanen, Krug, etc. Guys who are better than the average forward at defending but are also guys you wouldn't trust at all to defend a lead in the final minute. Obviously I agree that you need at least two powerplay quarterbacks but they shouldn't be defensive liabilities. We already have two guys that can handle being a PP qb in Theodore and Schmidt and a third if you count Hague.
Right now looking at the makeup of our blueline you have the staple Schmidt and McNabb pair who can be called a flawed but solid second pair. Theodore is basically the first pair with whoever the coaches decide to try him with on any given night. Generally Theodore is our go to two way presence and our number one defender. Then you now have a really solid duo of responsible defensemen in Martinez and Whitecloud. So the way it looks right now is this
Merrill/Holden/Engo-Theodore
Schmidt-McNabb
Martinez-Whitecloud
Hague
Merrill/Holden/Engo are basically the trio of players this team eventually need to phase out but at least we know what we're getting with them. Engo just shouldn't play anymore, while Merrill and Holden have the capacity for competence but also can be directly responsible for high quality chances against. Now let's say we go out and get Gustafsson with his dogshit GA5v5 stat for his ability to move the puck. Look up at that current pairing map. Who do you knock off? The currently hot Martinez that we just traded for? Of course not. Do you bench the rookie Whitecloud who's played nearly mistake free defensively responsible hockey? It could happen but it shouldn't. So looking at that you would bench the whole phase out trio of Holden, Merrill, and Engo for a guy who has a worse GA5v5 than any of them just for the sake of
maybe 10-15 more points from the blueline down the stretch but probably a lot more goals against.
So say we make that trade, these would be our pair options (not gonna bother being accurate with defensive sides, I never remember)
Option 1:
Shea-Gus
Nate-Nabb
Marti-Cloudy
Pro: don't have to worry about Holden or Merrill; you get a lot of offensive bite from one pairing.
Con: by switching out one of Holden or Merrill with Gus you're getting a guy who is even more likely to blow defensive coverage and surrender high danger chances; Theodore, who is having a career year offensively now has even more responsibility to baby sit a defensively bankrupt partner which cuts away from our best defender's effectiveness.
Option 2
Shea-Holden/Merrill
Nate-Nabb
Marti-Gus
Pro: lower ice time for Gus to expose our goalie, saves Gus' energy for powerplay; Shea, while still having to babysit a defensively weak player has less of that responsibility.
Con: benches Whitecloud who has been one of our most defensively responsible players since his debut; now forces Martinez who has actually been strong at activating from the point offensively to babysit Gus, Gus' own offensive ability does negate the impact of Martinez nullifying his offensive contribution, but probably not by a lot since as a third pairing defenseman he won't share ice with the Stone and Marchessault lines much.
Option 3:
Shea-Nate
Nabb-Marti
Gus-Cloudy
Pro: there's something solid about having your best two defenders together at the same time; Martinez, defensively is an improvement over Schmidt which would make the second pairing a great shutdown option; don't have to worry about Holden or Merrill.
Con: there's something impractical about having your two best defensemen on the same pair since it's often better to have them on the ice for 40 minutes or more at a time; as good as Marti has been offensively that isn't likely to last and separating Schmidt from McNabb takes the offensive threat away from the second pair to overload the first for less time across the length of the game; good as Whitecloud has been I doubt he's learned enough to babysit Gus and his negative defensive presence.
So to end a long ass post, the question I ask is
: is another ten to fifteen points (points, not goals) from the blueline really worth all those cons?
If your answer is no then you should feel, as I do, that chasing one of those available puck movers really isn't a dire need and could be more trouble than it's worth.
Edit: now that I'm thinking about it there is a fourth option
Shea-Marti
Nate-Nabb
Gus-Cloudy
I still don't like the idea of Whitecloud having to babysit Gustafsson or any of the others though. With Holden and Merrill there's at least a plausible chance that they could have a competent night defensively.