montreal
Go Habs Go
nomorekids said:that's kind of the problem. You're basing your judgement of Mark Eaton on what you KNEW of him...and Mark Eaton, in ONE SUMMER took such a huge step forward that even PREDS fans couldn't believe it. He went from being referred to as "Question Mark" and being called to be sent to the AHL...to being our absolute best defensive d-man. He was called upon to bulk up..he did. He was called upon to hit the weight room....he did that to the point that he turned down an offer to play for the US world championship team just so that he could do nothing but get stronger. He was called upon to go from being an offensive defenseman and turn to being a strictly stay at home guy, so that he could be paired with Timonen. What did he have last year? 15 points? and yet he somehow managed to set a Nashville record with a PLUS SIXTEEN rating. He was out EVERY night against the top lines, and shut down the likes of Naslund, Tkachuk, Bertuzzi and so forth. He was not only "prone to making mistakes in his own end," he almost never did. I can't actually think of one noticeable "bad play" he made...all of last year. So..unless you watched him a good amount last year...it's unfair to judge him, because there really was that much of a difference. I will go as far as to say... Eaton is the best PURELY DEFENSIVE d-man on either team, Nashville or Montreal. You can go on about how Markov will put better numbers up..and he will...but if you want a shut down guy, Eaton is the man for either team.
Even with one good year, I don't see how Eaton is all the sudden better then Markov who has been good in his own end for the last 3 years, and 2 more in Russia. But it's all a matter of prefrence, and no need to go on and on about who's better then who. (although it does appear we'll have lots of time to discuss over and over) I still have a hard time seeing Eaton as being a great defensemen in his own end, but I'll have to take others word for it since I clearly didn't see this from him. Still one year is hard to put him over someone who's had a few years to show he can play well in his own end.