There was a game last week where the Leafs were kind of feeling pressure in the D-zone but nothing crazy...and Polak got a pass around the boards...you would think the first thing a D-man would do is look for an outlook pass...nope not with Polak, he immediately got the puck...panicked and shot it off the boards and out..like this guy sucks! he's a physical D-man but he has no poise at all with the puck, his first reaction is to get it out...That's not how Babcock's possession style works.. I hope we can move him soon or at least sometime early in the new year.
He's been decent to ok this year, but he's definitely a bottom pairing guy, He may be a #5 if not a #6 on a contender
Yes, I strongly agree with you.
There are situations where he does very well, but, the problem is that they are situations that if a player doesn't panic and give up the puck, or like you say, just fire it out of trouble, then, the team doesn't get into as many of those situations in the first place; he fires down for icing and then we lose a draw in our end and it's a clustershmuck in front of our net suddenly.
But, he does have strength in certain areas where a lot of players don't. If he's alone in front of our net and one on one with an opposing forward and the puck goes back to the blue line, he can look after the forward better than or as good as anyone, but, that's not a situation that the team wants to ever get into in the first place. But, those are the situations that lots of fans see - and the reason many fans think he's effective; he can do what Gardiner can't do in front of the net with a big opposing forward, he just can't get out of trouble in the first place as slick as Gardiner or Riells can to avoid those situations.
