Is splitting our top defensive pairing worth the risk?

[blue82]

Gunnar has never been good enough for the top pair.

like a broken record, on and on we go...lol

 

[Jot]

It was 1 game against a team that had to travel after playing the night prior.

How many of those minutes were match up minutes?

Carlyle has issues with Gardiners defensive game (and rightfully so) so using him to match up against top players like Ovi, Nash, Speeza just seems flawed to me.

Gardiner has been steller for the last 12 games. He's averaged 23 minutes of ice time, and has found his offensive game.

I think he's atleast earned a shot for playing on the top pairing.

 

[tmlfan98]

To the people who voted yes my question is: who would be better with Phaneuf on this current roster as supposed to Gunnarsson? I can't think of anyone.

 

[Duffman955]

Gardiner - Phaneuf
Gunnar - Franson
Fraser - Rielly

 

[wulfio*]

@ OP

Yes I think it's worth splitting up our 3rd and 4th best D men.

 

[RadekBong]

Undoubtedly Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson have been shutting down other teams top lines, they work well together and are extremely effective.

The problem comes with our 2nd pairing, it seems like other then those 2 guys, no one else can handle tough competition. So do we split up Dion and Carl? Balance the top4 pairings?

Maybe something like this can work.

Dion - Gardiner
Franson - Gunnarsson

These pairings can either show 1 of 2 things.
1. Dion Phaneuf is better then expected and is still getting the job done with a less capable partner. Top 4 is looking good.
2. Dion and Carl had good chemistry, breaking them up was a bad idea, both pairings are struggling.

*Rielly is out of the question for Dion's partner, too early to be seeing that kind of competition.

I'd like to see
Dion - JML (Haven't they played together?)
Franson - Gunnarsson (solid against LA)
Rielly-Gards -give the young guys the sheltered minutes and swap Fraser in for games when we need the extra muscle.

I'd be down to see it tried with Liles and Gards swapping places too if Gards can sustain the stellar play he's capable of.

 

[PlietscherDassel]

Against a team like the Habs, with no clear top line, it could be worth the gamble.

Would love to see:

Rielly - Phaneuf
Gardiner - Gunnar

as the top 4.

and then Fraser/Ranger - Franson as the bottom pair.


But if we're playing a team with a dominant top line, it's probably best to keep Gunnar-Phaneuf together.

Came here to say this.