The yearly overreaction to a press box fill in defenceman is upon us
I would honestly rather have one of Heinola/Samberg/Niku as the #7..... who ever doesn't crack the top 6. You can even rotate who it is every once in a while to get them playing time between the Moose and Jets. But who says there is even an AHL season. If it is a short NHL season or no AHL, Sbisa just took a spot that could have been filled by a young guy to learn/develop/ practice with the big boys. If he is only there for emergency and never plays as a young guy from the Moose jumps over him then i guess it's fine
Interesting as some Vancouver media saying Stetcher is not appreciated by Green, has to prove him self every year. He starts on the 3rd pair, but by the end of the season he is playing #1 minutes beside Elder. Maybe someone worth a short term deal?Maurice wouldn't let Stecher kill penalties, so it doesn't really matter.
Why does Chevy sign garbage players on day 1 of free agency? He does it every year. He ties up salary with the easiest players to replace. It's incompetence. There is no reason for it.
The yearly overreaction to a press box fill in defenceman is upon us
i'm only confused by this signing because i'd assume Sbisa's our #7 or 8 D. it means Niku may not get a qualifying offer? which means that we have exactly 1 offensively gifted d-man?
the positive? Sbisa had zero desire to play in Winnipeg. clearly, once he got here, he liked it enough to re-sign. either that or there were zero other options for him. but signing on day 1, to me, means that he liked wpg
Just watch him get in the lineup ahead of guys like Heinola, Samberg, Niku etc.
Thanks PaulIf Heinola, Samberg and Niku aren't good enough to beat out Luca Sbisa, then they probably shouldn't be in the lineup.
Niku isn’t an nhler and grouped with other 2If Heinola, Samberg and Niku aren't good enough to beat out Luca Sbisa, then they probably shouldn't be in the lineup.
Just watch him get in the lineup ahead of guys like Heinola, Samberg, Niku etc.
Two of them should beat out Sbisa, but Maurice is the road block here.If Heinola, Samberg and Niku aren't good enough to beat out Luca Sbisa, then they probably shouldn't be in the lineup.
Troy Stecher: actually pretty good defenceman signs for 2 years, 1.7 per.
Sbisa and Beaulieu: two bad defencemen sign for 2+ combined.
This isn’t difficult.
After the 2018-19 season, it really looked like Stecher was starting to figure things out. He became a much better puck-mover in his previous two seasons and it started to show up in his 5-on-5 results. He was among the team leaders in expected goals and had the highest goal share among defenders in Vancouver. It looked like a top-four role was in his future. But in 2019-20 he failed to build on that. The strong goals share was still there, but a lot of it looked like smoke and mirrors given his poor scoring chance share. His puck-moving ability took a dive, too. There may still be a decent defender here, one who can defend well and stay out of the box, but at this juncture, Stecher looks to be closer to a run-of-the-mill third-pairing option. There’s nothing wrong with that though, and for teams looking to plug a hole he could be a reasonably cheap option with OK upside.