Ranking On Roster Defenseman #7

[DanteDevilsHockey]

Now the top six is filled and if nothing changes it will presumably look like this.

Greene-Severson
Moore-Lovejoy
Merrill(if good to go)-Santini

Depth on the backend is extremely thin, but the 3 left in the poll are really the only guys we have that can step into a temporary role (argument can be made for Mozik).


Current List
1. Greene
2. Severson
3. Lovejoy
4. Moore
5. Merrill
6. Santini

Click to read more...

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Went with the Frenchman but that's more on gut feeling than anything concrete. This one is very much to be determined in my opinion.

 

[Sgt Brylin]

Voted Gormley over Auvitu, based on NHL experience alone, and the higher ceiling (although let's face it, he's pretty much a bust at this point).

 

[HBK27]

I just have a good feeling about Auvitu & think he'll make the opening night roster, but at this point who really knows...

Helgeson, Gormley & Mozik all probably have just as good of a chance as well...and all things considered, these 3 all have at least some NHL experience (plus Helgeson has to clear waivers), so they probably come in to camp holding any tiebreakers.

 

[JimEIV]

Auvintu is going to be good, it is inevitable...he shares my birthday so greatness is preordained by the cosmos.

 

[Tretyak 20]

Went with the guy who a). has actually played a number of NHL games and b). didn't totally suck while doing it.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I picked the French man. I know nothing about him, I just trust in Shero, since he signed the guy. Until he proves to be wrong, I'll go with his decision.

 

[Bleedred]

Auvitu

He has a question mark and no credit, as far as his credit score goes. And no credit is better than the bad credit in which Gormley and Helgeson have.

Gormley probably has a sub 600 credit score and Helgeson has nothing but smears, including the equivalent to a bankruptcy, as far as his NHL hockey credit score is concerned.

 

[JimEIV]

I picked the French man. I know not about him, I just trust in Shero, since he signed the guy. Until he proves to be wrong, I'll go with his decision.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/moorejo01.html

 

[Comparison Ford]

Auvintu is going to be good, it is inevitable...he shares my birthday so greatness is preordained by the cosmos.

I'm with Jim. I feel it.

 

[billingtons ghost]

So... this list is pretty depressing.

Do you offer tryouts to Seidenberg, Russel or Jackman to be a #7 guy - and to mentor the kids in practice?

I've always liked Jackman, and he did play 71 games + playoffs last year.

I've liked Seidenberg too - and he lives in NJ.

Edit: both would be good on the PK, and Seidenberg can play both sides...

We'll need at least 10 D men to get thru the season, and at least 8 solid ones.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Has Seidenberg really fallen off a cliff? Was always a fan of his. Was always a rock for the B's.

 

[MadDevil]

I don't know if Jackman or Seidenberg have the mobility/puck moving ability that seems to be where we want to go with the defense. You look at the additions on the back end since Shero took over (Schlemko, Mozik, Warsofsky, Auvitu, Gormley, etc.) and there's a clear emphasis on moving the puck quickly from the defense rather than the traditional stay at home guys. But I guess it wouldn't hurt it to give one of those guys a PTO to see if they can help.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I'd rather a smart if slow stay-at-home guy filling a bottom pairing role than a supposed puck mover with speed but scrambled eggs for brains. It's nice to be fast but if your brain can't keep up, what's the point? I'd rather bring in a veteran guy who can actually defend than Warsofsky 2.0.

 

[Zippy316]

I'd rather a smart if slow stay-at-home guy filling a bottom pairing role than a supposed puck mover with speed but scrambled eggs for brains. It's nice to be fast but if your brain can't keep up, what's the point? I'd rather bring in a veteran guy who can actually defend than Warsofsky 2.0.

Let's wait and see him in action before we jump the gun and label him Warsofsky 2.0 and say he has scrambled eggs for brains.

And the problem with bringing in veteran guys to fill every hole on the roster is we don't get to see what we have from young kids. If we're a consistently competitive team, then the veteran route makes sense -- Lou did it numerous times as we consistently made the playoffs from 2006-2012. As we are not and still rebuilding, we have to give young guys a chance and see if we can hit a home run or at the very least get a tangible asset we may be able to trade.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Let's wait and see him in action before we jump the gun and label him Warsofsky 2.0 and say he has scrambled eggs for brains.

And the problem with bringing in veteran guys to fill every hole on the roster is we don't get to see what we have from young kids. If we're a consistently competitive team, then the veteran route makes sense -- Lou did it numerous times as we consistently made the playoffs from 2006-2012. As we are not and still rebuilding, we have to give young guys a chance and see if we can hit a home run or at the very least get a tangible asset we may be able to trade.

I voted for Auvitu (think that's how his name is spelled) for this spot, and I'm not saying anything about him. I was stating that I'd rather have a veteran guy than another guy like Warsofsky brought in. Youth and speed are nice but people around here get too focused on them when there is also value in being steady and having experience. Around here, there is almost an instinctual aversion to bringing in veterans. That is what I disagree with.

With Auvitu, I don't have a problem, and as you can see earlier in the thread, voted for him.

 

[billingtons ghost]

I completely agree on all the above points -

I don't want to see Warsofsky 2.0, I want to see what we have in the kids instead of stopgaps, but I also realize that we are presently scraping to get a valid #6 on the ice at this point...

I don't think we've gone through a season where we have needed less than 8 NHL Dmen - even when we were plugging in OMG and Corrente and God-knows-What.

Santini will either hold down a full-time spot with some bumps in the road, or end up in the AHL for much of the season - but what scares me is that we don't know how many times Merrill or even Severson might end up a healthy scratch after hitting bumpy patches...

That leaves us with really Greene, Lovejoy and Moore as 82 game players- and if one goes down...

We are guaranteed to see lots of Auvitu (0 NHL games), Hulk (41), Gormly (31), Mozik (7), and/or maybe even Jacobs or Scarlett.

From what I heard about Seidenberg, he was dealing with injuries (back?) and wasn't himself, but came back strong at the end?

 

[Ben Matlock]

Will be very interesting to see how Auvitu adapts to the smaller rink. I don't think he has played a single game on NHL-sized ice.

If Merrill is good to go from day one I would rather have someone like Gormley as the #7. But if Merrill needs more time Auvitu would be my choice as #6 for opening night, assuming we're not adding a top-4 d-man before that.

When he moved from France to Finland as a junior player he was actually a left winger. Probably useless as a winger, but a lot of sites still list him as D/LW.

 

[devilsblood]

I'm pretty confident Santini can handle a bottom pairing defense first role.

I also don't foresee many healthy scratches for Sev's. He might not ascend to legit top pairing d-man, but I'd like to think we are past the days of healthy scratch.

Merrill, is the big question mark imo.

Auvitu is a bigger question mark, but he's mobile, and given his age I'd like to think mature for the position even if not familiar with NHL ice rinks. And he's hopefully the 7th D. Best case for Auvitu is, he is so good he squeezes Moore(while Merrill plays well enough as 2nd pairing).

Moore is what he is, not that good, but I can live with him on bottom pair.

It's shaky, but i think this season should still be about letting guys play and finding out what they have.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

I'm pretty confident Santini can handle a bottom pairing defense first role.

I also don't foresee many healthy scratches for Sev's. He might not ascend to legit top pairing d-man, but I'd like to think we are past the days of healthy scratch.

Merrill, is the big question mark imo.

Auvitu is a bigger question mark, but he's mobile, and given his age I'd like to think mature for the position even if not familiar with NHL ice rinks. And he's hopefully the 7th D. Best case for Auvitu is, he is so good he squeezes Moore(while Merrill plays well enough as 2nd pairing).

Moore is what he is, not that good, but I can live with him on bottom pair.

It's shaky, but i think this season should still be about letting guys play and finding out what they have.

If Auvitu can push Moore down to the 3rd pairing, I'll go out and buy a French Flag and bring it to home game!

 

[devilsblood]

If Auvitu can push Moore down to the 3rd pairing, I'll go out and buy a French Flag and bring it to home game!

Well my scenario is actually Merrill 2nd pairing, with Auvitu 3rd, but if Auvitu can impress to the point of being a 2nd pairing guy, that sounds good to me.

(Well actually I want Merrill to impress and earn that 2nd pairing.)

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Well my scenario is actually Merrill 2nd pairing, with Auvitu 3rd, but if Auvitu can impress to the point of being a 2nd pairing guy, that sounds good to me.

(Well actually I want Merrill to impress and earn that 2nd pairing.)

I'll root for Merrill, I'm just not sure he has what it takes. Hope he proves me wrong.

 

[devilsblood]

I'll root for Merrill, I'm just not sure he has what it takes. Hope he proves me wrong.

Trust me, I'm not sure either. Whole lotta wishful thinking going on.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I think a guy like Moore and do quite well with a Lovejoy type player as his partner. I don't think Moore played with a rock last season.

 

[JimEIV]

I think a guy like Moore and do quite well with a Lovejoy type player as his partner. I don't think Moore played with a rock last season.

Not a single dman in the bottom 4 had an adequate partner last season. None of the 4 were capable of anchoring a pairing.

Merrill and Severson are young and inexperienced it is reasonable at this point that neither can anchor a pairing.

But this all stemmed from Larsson and Greene being inseparable.

I half wonder if Larsson(chained to Greene) was used the way he was soley to trade him...because it made no sense whatsoever. If he was truly a budding #1 shutdown guy why wouldn't you put him with Moore or Merrill allowing Greene to baby sit a a Severson or even Schlemko to create two better pairings and spread out minutes and situations? The usage was bizare.