Gardiner - #2
Rielly - #3
Zaitsev - ?
Marincin - #4/5
Carrick - #5
Hunwick - #5
Corrado - #6/7
Polak - #7
No!! Bad leaf fan! Bad! That's a bad leaf fan. Stop doing this!!!!!!!! It's insane!!!!
He finished 4th on their blueline in ice time per game last season, which was one of, if not the worst blueline in the league. How does that imply #2 status?
Only 31 points from an OFD with a -15 rating when seeing tons of offensive zone starts and weak match-ups? Previous year -23 rating with 24 points again with Phaneuf pairing taking way harder match-ups. His only good stat is corsi and that's very explainable. His faults don't lie in letting up constant scoring chances, but in the periodic glaring errors that lead to goals (hence his +/- / corsi ratio every season). It's not a coincidence, it's not random, it's been happening a long time and the stats + eye test both back it up.
Did you not see game 1? He caused 2 goals single handed. Watch it again and isocam Jake Gardiner for those goals. He's capable of playing really well for stretches but has huge breakdowns at inopportune moments (again hence +/- vs weak match-ups). You can't teach hockey sense, he hasn't changed his habits since entering the league 5 years ago. It's time to stop clinging to his great 7 game performance in the Boston series. He's 26 now, development doesn't go much further than this.
Bottom line he's never eclipsed 31 points, proving he clearly isn't a top guy offensively. The world knows his defensive game is his worst asset. His +/- is always bad, even worse than most of his teammates so don't use that argument. He's good in transition, he's decent offensively, bad defensively, and has poor hockey sense leading to lots of costly errors. He's a #4 at best.
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