Nithoniniel
Registered User
Yeah this is not a bad thought.My primary counter would be that I don't expect one player to outright replace Gardiner. I see Zaitsev's increased offensive role (which is more suitable to his skill set than being used as a shutdown guy) combined with a quality 2nd pair guy to do the job. And they won't do it the same way. We may sacrifice some ability in certain respects but I think the trade off is worthwhile and still works out in our favour if the partner provides more stability.
I don't know if people noticed it but in the Boston series, they would cut off passing lanes from the left side of our zone, leaving the right side free. This made it very hard for Rielly, Gardiner, and Dermott to move the puck out, which meant that Hainsey and the others had to take that role. That's what you can do against a pairing that relies heavily on one player doing the bulk of the puck moving, so moving towards more equal partners is probably preferable.
I agree about Hainsey. If we could move Dermott to the right side and acquire another solid RD like Pysyk, I would actually have a Hainsey - Zaitsev pairing as a third. That would indicate depth at defense, for once.Watching him in his most recent interviews for the worlds, he looked far more relaxed and was even cracking some jokes. I also think he should be rewarded for his strong play and would still start him at 4D and I think moving Hainsey down to the 3rd pairing with Dermott would be ideal for both Dermott's development and to keep Hainsey fresher in a more sheltered role while still being able to be a horse on the PK. Hainsey had a more or less reverse Zaitsev season in that he was way better than expected for the for most of the season and then ran outta juice at the end. Gards was the goat in the last game but its made him criminally underrated now so I would try to take advantage of that by signing him to a team friendly contract if possible.
I would not be surprised to see the Leafs make a move to acquire a first pairing D(Hainsey replacement) to play with Rielly, maybe even at the draft.