North \ Canadian Division - Defense

[HuGo Sham]

Oilers without a massive minute muncher like Kelfbom is a little meh this season. Every team has played - what one or two games so far? Easier to rank after 10-20 games.

Sens D looks big and nasty but had trouble with the Leafs cycle. Montreal’s D looked very mobile and slick but how will they handle thorny big forwards like the Sens?

will be interesting. I think Romanov's development is key - so they can slot him in with Weber and move chiarot into his proper chair in bottom 2. Petry is also terrific. I'm not sold on Edmundson yet. maybe in bottom pair. good news, habs have lots of young D-men coming

 

[Apex Predator]

Brodie was a minus 3 against Ottawa last night. He did not look good... at all.
Starting to wonder if Rielly is the issue.

It’s one game I’m not going to panic over that. If it continues then yes I’ll be concerned

 

[NyQuil]

It’s one game I’m not going to panic over that. If it continues then yes I’ll be concerned

HF is at its most entertainingly manic where we have one or two samples of games to derive analyses from.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Oilers without a massive minute muncher like Kelfbom is a little meh this season. Every team has played - what one or two games so far? Easier to rank after 10-20 games.

Sens D looks big and nasty but had trouble with the Leafs cycle. Montreal’s D looked very mobile and slick but how will they handle thorny big forwards like the Sens?

I agree they looked questionable at times but in terms of results they played Toronto well. 3 goals against with under 3 expected goals is good considering the opposition.

 

[Critical13]

On our board, someone pointed out that we have four gigantic immobile defencemen in Brown, Zaitsev, Coburn and Gudbranson.

Either they try to chase Marner around the zone and look stupid and maybe take a penalty, or they stand in front of the net and in the slot and prevent anyone getting into the high-danger areas.

It might not be ideal but it's probably the only way they will be effective, and it does cede a lot of possession in the defensive zone.

The forwards are fairly conservative and we rarely have 2 forecheckers in deep so as to prevent the quick counterattacks and odd-man transition plays.

The Senators also had a fair number of moments last night were they ended up stuck out on the ice too long and that exacerbated how they looked against the Leafs cycle. Remains to be seen if conditioning/rust played a factor there.



The expectation is that Wolanin will provide some puck moving support to Chabot on the second pairing but he didn't have a very good game last night.

He had that awkward fall and kind of disappeared after that. He can definitely skate, though.

 

[NyQuil]

I agree they looked questionable at times but in terms of results they played Toronto well. 3 goals against with under 3 expected goals is good considering the opposition.

The Leafs just have to shoot more.

Put more pucks on net. 4 shots on goal in the third period is inexcusable.

 

[Fatass]

Brodie was a minus 3 against Ottawa last night. He did not look good... at all.
Starting to wonder if Rielly is the issue.

Together Brodie and Rielly were a minus 7 in that loss to Ottawa. Maybe they just don’t (yet) mesh together?

 

[NyQuil]

Together Brodie and Rielly were a minus 7 in that loss to Ottawa. Maybe they just don’t (yet) mesh together?

They had a hard time clearing creases last night.

 

[Fatass]

They had a hard time clearing creases last night.

Is Brodie really the defensive conscience Rielly needs in a partner?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Montreals actual D core is overatted imo. They are pretty dam solid from a defensive standpoint compared to other teams in the division but the forwards busting their asses off for the boys back there has alot to do with montreals defensive game. Watching toronto ottawa last night its easy to point the finger at rielly or brodie for defensive mistakes but honnestly wtf are torontos forwards doing help the guys out ffs

 

[NyQuil]

Is Brodie really the defensive conscience Rielly needs in a partner?

Hard to tell after 2 games.

No pre-season, all kinds of COVID-19 shenanigans.

I get that we want to talk about hockey but I really have no clue what is going to emerge over time.

Probably what most people expected in the end.

 

[Number 57]

Montreal’s D looked very mobile and slick but how will they handle thorny big forwards like the Sens?

Unsure about this sentence. Montreal's D is average in terms of mobility if you ask me. Weber is slow, Chiarot can move okay but is far from slick, Edmundson is ultra slow and Kulak is decent. Petry and Romanov are great skaters, and so is Mete, but Mete is the #7 guy right now. So you really only have 2 defensemen that could be said are above-average in terms of speed and mobility.

And for the last part, not sure what year you think you're in but Montreal's D is very big and physical now. Chiarot is like 230 pounds, Weber is mean, Petry is 6'2 and can hit, Edmundson obviously can hit, Romanov is very physical and Kulak can hold his own too. Of course, Mete is small and weak, but again, he's the #7. Cale Fleury the #8 has good size, mobility and strength. So I'm not sure why Montreal would have trouble with any big forwards

 

[Canadienna]

Calgary
Vancouver
Montreal
Edmonton
Ottawa
Toronto
Winnipeg

The best Dmen in the North division are offensive Dmen too.

 

[Here I Pageau Again]

I feel like ppl are rating Ottawa's D too high.

The reason Ottawa may have more success is because of the defensive support their forwards give. Their D, minus Chabot, isn't anything to write home about.

Defensively, I'm not sure many Canadian teams are that great.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Oilers without a massive minute muncher like Kelfbom is a little meh this season. Every team has played - what one or two games so far? Easier to rank after 10-20 games.

Sens D looks big and nasty but had trouble with the Leafs cycle. Montreal’s D looked very mobile and slick but how will they handle thorny big forwards like the Sens?

Habs defence
Weber: 6'4, 229 lbs
Edmundson: 6'4, 227 lbs
Chariot: 6'3, 234 lbs
Petry: 6'3, 208 lbs
Kulak: 6'1, 192 lbs
Romanov: 6'0, 208 lbs

The habs have the biggest and most physical d-corps in the NHL

 

[voxel]

Habs defence
Weber: 6'4, 229 lbs
Edmundson: 6'4, 227 lbs
Chariot: 6'3, 234 lbs
Petry: 6'3, 208 lbs
Kulak: 6'1, 192 lbs
Romanov: 6'0, 208 lbs

The habs have the biggest and most physical d-corps in the NHL

I think the Sens do.

 

[notbias]

Brodie was a minus 3 against Ottawa last night. He did not look good... at all.
Starting to wonder if Rielly is the issue.

Last 3 years - GF/GA/GF% (5v5) - partner
2017 - 62/57/52.10% - Hainsey
2018 - 99/68/59.28% - Hainsey
2019 - 44/40/52.38% - Ceci


He is for sure the problem and was carried by Hainsey and Ceci.
Surely small sample size and PDO have nothing to do with this.
PDO
2017 - 1.011
2018 - 1.039
2019 - 1.010
2020 - 0.857

 

[HabsDood]

I think the Sens do.

They're a bit skinny for that height.. How good are they?

 

[bukwas]

No teams look very good yet this season. In a couple weeks they will have the rust shook off and I can make an assessment based on at least a little bit of evidence. Goalies might need a little bigger sample though.

 

[Fatass]

I rank them:

Mon (Weber factor)
Van (Hughes factor)
Cal. (Geo factor)
Ott (Chabot factor)
Tor
Win
Ed

 

[Islay1989]

Together Brodie and Rielly were a minus 7 in that loss to Ottawa. Maybe they just don’t (yet) mesh together?

Brodie is horrible. Barrie was no defensive staalwart, but anyone who expects Brodie to be one will be sorely disappointed. And he is far worse than Barrie offensively to boot.

 

[Fatass]

Brodie is horrible. Barrie was no defensive staalwart, but anyone who expects Brodie to be one will be sorely disappointed. And he is far worse than Barrie offensively to boot.

Are you suggesting the Leafs actually took a step back going to Brodie from Barrie? Barrie was pretty bad for them, right?

 

[Joe Rogan]

Leafs should have got Tanev instead of Brodie. Huge fail on their pro scouting

 

[Isaac Nootin]

This was quite the read.

 

[Dion TheFluff]

It’s impressive the leafs defense is still garbage after being their weakness for the last 4 years... you’d think they’d fix it

maybe move matthews for a #1 dmen.... he’s got 0 goals seems kinda washed up tbh

yeah the Leafs defence is totally garbage ranking 6th in GA per game and 7th in SA per game....