How Good Was Wade Redden?

[JurassicPuck]

What was he like as a player? Any comparable players?

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[GlitchMarner]

He was quite good in his prime with OTT. He wasn't at a Doughty, Karlsson or Hedman level; he was more akin to guys like Bryan McCabe and Dion Phaneuf when they were good in terms of overall ability.

From what I recall, he wasn't very flashy, but he had some offensive capabilities and could move the puck. He played a steady sort of game.

 

[frisco]

Really a top 15 defenseman for the first ten years of his career. Think Ryan Suter or Andrei Markov. Didn't age well unlike those guys, got a big contract, and of course is best known for being buried in the minors for cap reasons for three years in his 30's. Also, as a #2 overall people seemed to expect a little more from him than he was probably capable of. Basically, fulfilled his potential for the most part and had a good to great NHL career.

My Best-Carey

 

[Neutrinos]

Really a top 15 defenseman for the first ten years of his career. Think Ryan Suter or Andrei Markov. Didn't age well unlike those guys, got a big contract, and of course is best known for being buried in the minors for cap reasons for three years in his 30's. Also, as a #2 overall people seemed to expect a little more from him than he was probably capable of. Basically, fulfilled his potential for the most part and had a good to great NHL career.

My Best-Carey

I think Suter is clearly in a tier above Redden

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Not as good as Zdeno Chara.

 

[JackSlater]

Pretty much a poor man's Niedermayer. Plenty of defencemen today play the way that Redden did, basically anyone who has good size and top end skating but doesn't play very aggressively. Perhaps Pietrangelo with slightly better skating but less IQ or a more passive Josi. For all the critiques that Redden received after he pretty much fell off a cliff, for a number of years he was pretty much a top 20 defenceman in hockey. He made the Canadian Olympic team in 2006, the World Cup team in 2004 and was the eighth defenceman (in case someone was injured) in 2002.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i always thought he’d take the next step and peak as a poor man’s lidstrom. instead he fell off a cliff.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Pretty much a poor man's Niedermayer. Plenty of defencemen today play the way that Redden did, basically anyone who has good size and top end skating but doesn't play very aggressively. Perhaps Pietrangelo with slightly better skating but less IQ or a more passive Josi. For all the critiques that Redden received after he pretty much fell off a cliff, for a number of years he was pretty much a top 20 defenceman in hockey. He made the Canadian Olympic team in 2006, the World Cup team in 2004 and was the eighth defenceman (in case someone was injured) in 2002.

How about a slower Morgan Rielly?

 

[NyQuil]

Pretty much a poor man's Niedermayer. Plenty of defencemen today play the way that Redden did, basically anyone who has good size and top end skating but doesn't play very aggressively. Perhaps Pietrangelo with slightly better skating but less IQ or a more passive Josi. For all the critiques that Redden received after he pretty much fell off a cliff, for a number of years he was pretty much a top 20 defenceman in hockey. He made the Canadian Olympic team in 2006, the World Cup team in 2004 and was the eighth defenceman (in case someone was injured) in 2002.

Redden wasn’t that great a skater.

The easiest description is that he was above average at everything but not elite at anything. No major weaknesses either.

People made a lot of his first pass out of the zone, too much IMO.

He learned his trade in the dead puck era and had trouble adjusting to defence in the highly penalized era after the lockout without obstruction.

He was not particularly big and could be physically pummelled in the corner by dumping the puck into his corner, particularly late in his career.

He played better against finesse teams where he was a decent positional defender, but again, the crackdown on hooking challenged defencemen in his generation who spent their careers doing it up to that point.

He was fairly conservative compared with today’s D but again that was what those trap based systems needed.

 

[De Montreal]

Comparable to Jay Bouwmeester?

 

[wetcoast]

I think Suter is clearly in a tier above Redden

I agree with this.

Found the comparison is not very fitting.

Then again Suter is often underrated at times.

 

[Neutrinos]

Pietrangelo was the first name that came to mind, but I don't know how accurate that comparison is

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Redden wasn’t that great a skater.

The easiest description is that he was above average at everything but not elite at anything. No major weaknesses either.

People made a lot of his first pass out of the zone, too much IMO.

He learned his trade in the dead puck era and had trouble adjusting to defence in the highly penalized era after the lockout without obstruction.

He was not particularly big and could be physically pummelled in the corner by dumping the puck into his corner, particularly late in his career.

He played better against finesse teams where he was a decent positional defender, but again, the crackdown on hooking challenged defencemen in his generation who spent their careers doing it up to that point.

He was fairly conservative compared with today’s D but again that was those trap based systems needed.

this feels right. that’s why i made the lidstrom comparison, everything was very good, nothing seemed great, but his best tool seemed to be his brain. he also wasn’t especially aggressive and let the game come to him.

 

[frisco]

I agree with this.

Found the comparison is not very fitting.

Then again Suter is often underrated at times.

Redden averaged 9-37 and +15 for his first 11 years in Ottawa. And he started as an 19 year-old. That's in the thick of the dead puck era.

Suter started as a 21 year-old and went 5-31, +6 his first 11 years in a higher scoring era. Suter has put up very good seasons later in his career and has exceeded Redden who was regressing at that point but for the majority of their careers I'd say Redden was better by a notch. Definitely comparables. I don't think either has a huge edge in physical play or defense.

My Best-Carey

 

[Speedtrials]

Thought we were getting an elite player to lead our young d at the time (staal, girardi, etc) however, he was finished. Out of all the poor Rangers free agent deals, I think he tops out as 1.

 

[billybudd]

Even before his game fell apart, I thought he was more highly regarded than his game actually merited. Sort of a Paul Martin being branded as a Ryan Suter.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Tanev with slightly more O and slightly less D.

 

[CartographerNo611]

Stralman with more physicality and less consistency.

Rangers tenure was, current Seabrook.

 

[frisco]

Tanev with slightly more O and slightly less D.

This is just wrong. Chris Tanev, currently of the Canucks? Redden maybe had double or triple the O or more. Redden's best season in goals is only three below Tanev's career total in nine seasons.

My Best-Carey

 

[Jim MacDonald]

I was really impressed with his plus minus being really good for a good part of his career....knowing he was 6'2", was he a physical guy with a physical style? Or did he have a great brain/was sound positionally which gave him the high plus/minus?

 

[streitz]

I was really impressed with his plus minus being really good for a good part of his career....knowing he was 6'2", was he a physical guy with a physical style? Or did he have a great brain/was sound positionally which gave him the high plus/minus?

He wasn't overly physical but he wasn't like super soft either.

During those series against the Leafs, outside of Chara and to a much lesser extent Phillips I always thought the sens had a very soft D core. Redden played well but seemed to get outmuscled and banged around by the physical forwards on the Leafs among other teams.

He was a pretty good all around offensive D man, especially playing for one of the bigger trap teams during the DPE(Martin sens). I didn't watch hockey at all after the lockout so I can't comment on that.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

He wasn't overly physical but he wasn't like super soft either.

During those series against the Leafs, outside of Chara and to a much lesser extent Phillips I always thought the sens had a very soft D core. Redden played well but seemed to get outmuscled and banged around by the physical forwards on the Leafs among other teams.

He was a pretty good all around offensive D man, especially playing for one of the bigger trap teams during the DPE(Martin sens). I didn't watch hockey at all after the lockout so I can't comment on that.

Good stuff Streitz…...I wasn't thinking to comment on this, but bringing up the playoff series against the Leafs, I notice the good plus/minus in the regular season did NOT apply in the playoffs, thinking maybe if this fits with the outmuscled and banged around by the Leafs comment you made (the Leafs obviously winning that matchup).

 

[NyQuil]

The kind of play that went unpenalized in those days would be pretty shocking today.

 

[overpass]

Redden had a very good stick defensively and moved the puck well. He could pick the puck from an opponent or out of a scrum and send a tape to tape pass to a teammate quickly and effectively.

But he could also rely on his stick too much defensively. There were times when he should have used his body more and moved his feet more. I was frustrated with him at times when he would concede body position to an opponent and try to make the play with his stick. Too many soft plays, especially in the playoffs.

 

[overpass]

Thinking about Wade Redden’s career arc, he developed very little as a player through his career. He was a good defender in his rookie season at age 19 on a bad team. By age 21 he was the go-to defensive defenceman for Jacques Martin on the 1998-99 Ottawa Senators, a very good regular season team (103 points). I don’t think he ever really improved defensively from that point. Zdeno Chara and then Chris Phillips took over the defensive responsibilities a couple of years later and Redden settled into more of an offensive role. Offensively his point totals improved, and he became more effective on the power play, but he was never really a driver offensively, more of a puck mover from the back. He declined significantly from age 29 to age 32.

I think Redden would have had a much better career with the drive to improve and commitment to conditioning that Zdeno Chara had. Maybe some good veteran mentors would have helped. As it was, Redden was a good player offensively and defensively in his 20s but didn’t really add anything new to his game from the time he was a teenager. He did improve offensively but some of that can be attributed to the team improving around him. As soon as Redden reached the age where it becomes harder to maintain your physical condition, he slowed down and declined to the point he was a marginal NHLer.