I agree that our D needs help and I agree that signing Hainsey to a 1 year deal would be smart but I disagree with the bolded part. Erik Johnson can be so much better than last year, if he improved his play it would help out the rest of the D a lot. Also having Ryan Wilson in the line-up instead of him being injured will help a lot as well. Also Tyson Barrie will continue to improve his play and grow as a player.
I'm in the same boat as you as wanting somebody like Hainsey to solidify things, but it just isn't going to happen.
I am fully confident that the defense will improve though. First off, Hunwick won't be playing 23+ minutes a night. He will be back to eating Nachos. Barrie will be up for a full season. EJ shouldn't be nearly as bad as he was last year. None of that takes into account the coaching change which should improve the defense.
Elliott could surprise as well, if he puts it together he will improve the PP and the offense dramatically.
I agree on most these points. I still believe EJ can be a very good offensive and defensive top defenseman under the right circumstance. The biggest part of that is finding him a partner that can help him transition wise, and not be a sieve defensively. He just doesn't have the elite ability to handle both the offensive and defensive burden himself, it weighs him down too much.
The young guys like Barrie and Elliott could take another step offensively, but I'm not expecting them to be reliable defensively. I just don't see that in their makeup.
Wilson, while it's better he's healthy and in the lineup, I think people overrate in terms of how much he can help the team. I think because he's been injured so much, people tend to think that's the only thing holding him back. He's just not all that great defensively when it comes down to it, and since EJ and to a lesser extent Hejda are the only real quality D men on the team, that means Wilson is playing much higher than he should, and will have his weaknesses exposed once again.
They just need a lot of help, and one move or trade by itself isn't going to solve things. Might as well make another cheap one like Hainsey.
I think the D by itself will only be better because Patrick will be more demanding and get them them to focus and compete harder AND IF they can stay healthy.
Even if those things happen though, the ultimate level this group can get to is not that much higher. It's just not a good enough group. It needs more quality, and players that are more reliable defensively.
In order for them to get to a respectable level as a group, they'd have to ALL take HUGE steps in their effectiveness, and ALL stay healthy, and that just simply isn't realistic. To me we've seen the best out of guys like Hejda, Wilson, and Hunwick. I don't see them taking improving beyond what we've seen already. Benoit I'll be happy if he can play close to a Wilson level of play, and Sarich I'll be happy if he's just not a complete train wreck every time he steps out on the ice.
I think at best if things go well, we'll see one or two guys like EJ and Barrie/Elliott take small steps up in their overall level of play, and they'll be relatively healthy, but that's just not going to be enough unfortunately IMO.
