Does he start the #1 PP unit with Morgan?
So far from the preseason games I've watched, it looks like he is really nervous when he has the puck, seems to bobble the puck whenever he touches it. Hope he can improve that, if he does, he is easily a top 4 D
ROCK SOLID, as usual
just put him with rielly as 1st pairing and dont look back
ROCK SOLID, as usual
just put him with rielly as 1st pairing and dont look back
This is exactly what I'm thinking. I've had enough of Rielly being paired with guys like Marincin and Hunwick to drag him down. We can ride Rielly-Zaitsev for ~25 minutes a night and I'm sure they'd excel.
If Hunwick is out for I don't know how long, just run:
Rielly-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Carrick
Marincin-Corrado/Polak
Then work on an upgrade.
That would be an upgrade. I don't think they can fit in an additional player on D. Expansion and all. The lines were going to become that exact top 2 pairs no matter what.
I always forget how this works - do we have to protect Zaitsev, or does his pro experience in the KHL not count toward the expansion draft? If we don't have to protect him, I'd say we look to add a piece on the back end this year.
Don't have to protect Zaitsev
Good debut. Not flashy but played a really good game.
And he really stepped up after Hunwick got hurt. Zaitsev played 3 seconds shy of 24 minutes. Only him and Rielly(25:45) had more. It was also more time than any Sen other than Karlsson, who never leaves the ice. It's a really good sign that Babcock trusts him like this, and that he seems to be able to handle it. We need him to take a heavy workload on D.
He really handled those minutes well for his debut.
I think it's time for Babcock to make a Rielly and Zaitsev pairing a permanent thing.
I liked what I saw from Zaitsev tonight.