So you would sit Bart?? Miller has really impressed since he got the call up..Personally I think Dougie has to get better in his own end. He seems to have the same problem as Meszaros so DONT put them on the ice together or it could spell disaster. I'm really disappointed in Joe Morrow. When the Seguin deal went down, I thought he was the best player coming back next to Eriksson, certainly not Smith. Hopefully in time Morrow shows why the Penguins picked him in the 1st round..
Hamilton playing with Chara would help a lot as far as Dougie's shortcomings, IMO, although admittedly Dougie isn't the fastest skater either. For the record, I really don't think Hamilton is a disaster in his own end. If anything, I've seen him get burned down the wing a bunch of times. But I haven't noticed him as really having a problem with defensive coverage.
The Meszaros-Miller pairing could be problematic. Miller has been more than anyone could have ever asked for or expected, but he is a rookie. Meszaros, as some of us know and others have been told, is a problem in his defensive zone pretty frequently. I thought maybe Miller could steady the ship there, but it is a lot to ask of a rookie. All that being said, when the alternative is a Bartkowski, who I think has been underwhelming for a good part of this year, I definitely want to try it.
Another option that I am sure would not be popular around here at all is trying Meszaros (before the playoffs of course) on the top 4, with Boychuk and Chara split up on as the #1 and #3. Andrej Meszaros used to play in the top 4 regularly and I know his defense didn't USED to be great. You could look at the results there.
I guess my conclusion is that we're pretty comfortably going to at least make the playoffs. Can't afford to take their foot off the gas, but the team does have time to experiment and I wouldn't mind trying Meszaros in as many positions, with as many different D-men, as possible.