Bjorn Le
Hobocop
Svoboda!! Really?! Well, I'll respect your opinion/observation...it's been awhile since Svoboda played but I've seen some old clips of Svoboda on CBC, and...everyone just seemed a lot slower back then!! (Svoboda looked smooth -good skater- but not as fast/flashy/entertaining/skilled as Subban,imo).
Desjardins (is a rightie, not that it matters that much!)...I wouldn't mind this comparison at all. Desjardins was a solid offensive/defensive dman (nothing flashy, not overly physical but physical enough from what I remember...solid dman).
Beaulieu comparisons: I like jmelm's fair, non-biased comparisons (from this thread) of Beaulieu...
Keith Yandle
Whitney
Brian Campbell with better defense and 3 inches taller -- that's an elite, arguably top 12-15 defensemen in the league.
Other Beaulieu comparisons: PK Subban, Mike Green, Brian Campbell... I believe jmelm's comparisons/observations are more realistic...although if Beaulieu had a bit of PK in him I wouldn't be against that! For me there's only one PK Subban and for defence I'd take PK over Green and Campbell anyday, imo.
Those are very, very high end comparisons. You're a Habs fan so no doubt you want to hear that, but realistically he's not going to turn out that way. How many draft picks turn out to be #1 defensemen. Doubt he'll ever be more than a #3 or 4 on a contending team. The only thing exceptional thing about his game was his skating and he wasn't the best skating defensemen from that draft anyway. That screams Trevor Daley to me (Exceptional skater, better then Beaulieu, but offense never translated from junior because it simply wasn't good enough)