McShogun99
Registered User
I think Vancouver and Ottawa will be the bottom 2 teams. Losing Markstrom, Tanev and Toffoli will be a huge blow. Schmidt is a good player but was he a product of a solid Vegas team or is he a legit top pairing Dman,
Rumor: Rumors and Proposals Thread | Defense Set, or Another Addition In the Works?
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I think Vancouver and Ottawa will be the bottom 2 teams. Losing Markstrom, Tanev and Toffoli will be a huge blow. Schmidt is a good player but was he a product of a solid Vegas team or is he a legit top pairing Dman,
Del Preston
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CantHaveTkachev
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Nurse-Bear
Jones-Barrie
Is our guaranteed top 4 to start the year. Russell-Larsson on the third pairing if Broberg or Bouchard are unable to supplant either of them.
Jones-Barrie
Is our guaranteed top 4 to start the year. Russell-Larsson on the third pairing if Broberg or Bouchard are unable to supplant either of them.
CantHaveTkachev
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and Jones
Hutton is ok as a 7th...but I wouldn't have him near a top 4 role
I know points and TOI aren’t everything, but you’re talking about a guy who has averaged 20:20 a game since he entered the league and 21 points a season. He’s definitely more than a #7.
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Hutton is a solid bottom pairing defenceman, he’s nowhere near a #7
With Covid and regular injuries in a compressed schedule he might be a number 3 on some nights.
TopShelfGloveSide
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He has the ability to play up to a 3/4. You just don’t want him there permanently
I feel like Larsson would be a more stable partner for Jones to open up his skating a bit.
ujju2
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Barrie isn't guaranteed to be above Larsson imo. Jones-Larsson could very well be a pair.
I am 100% certain he is. The top 4 I defined is from the horse's mouth of who the planned pairings are at this point in time. Expect to see it in day 1 of camp.
Unless we sign someone else.
Took a pill in Sbisa
2showToffoliIwascool
Larsson was hanging on for dear life to be a regular last season. Would be shocked to see him ahead of a legitimate top-4 right-shot dman.
Agreed, IMO he isn't playing here next year. Wonky back and limited skill, time to move on.
Aerchon
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Vancouver, like all but Ottawa and Montreal to a lesser extent, have a team that is at least a bubble team... Especially in this division.
Holtby was a great goalie that if returns to form they will barely miss Markstrom despite how amazing he played for them the last year or two.
The Schmidt addition is huge and could offset the loss of Markstrom even if Holtby doesn't return to form. It's sad but true that Vancouver, with that addition could be considered to have the best top 4/defense of the division.
Hughs Myers
Schmidt Edler?
That is a damn fine top 4 and filling out a bottom pairing is relatively easy.
By the same token the Oilers could end up with the best defense of the division but thats based more off of shoestring and hope than reality. Anyone expecting Nurse to take another big step in his development, Bear to not regress, Jones or Bouchard to suddenly become a top 3 level defender, Larsson to return to 2016 levels, Barrie to be more than a pure offensive defenseman, or lol Russell to have a career year is really deluding themselves.
Losing Klefbom loses legitimacy to our group being a tested and true nhl top 4. Ours "could" be great but that's based off of hope and growth more than reality.
Plus as much as I like Koskinen it's very possible between him and Smith we have the second/worst goalie tandem of the division to boot.
In short. Vancouver with the addition of Holtby and Schmidt are at least on par with the division and with an equal chance of being "the best".
Much like Klefbom people are clinging to his 2016-17 season and hoping that player is still there. At least Klefbom is an NHL Top 4 D man still. Larsson was barely bottom pair caliber to finish last year.
Hoping with this down time he’s had some time to sort out his back problems, because he’s still relatively young at just turned 28, he should really be right in his prime still
McJadeddog
Registered User
I just don't get this at all. Larsson was REALLY good for the last part of last year. I would say it was the 2nd best stretch of hockey he has played as an Oilers player. We were watching different players.
BarDownBobo
Registered User
I think too many people are using the play-in series too heavily in their valuation of players. I see it a lot with Klef, Larsson and Kassian to name a few. I’m with you on Larsson, he was great in Jan/Feb/March last year. Him and Jones is a no brainer pairing to me considering they’ve had success in the past with Klef out.
I wouldn't be. There's no LD on this roster that can cover his defensive miscues consistently. I think we're more likely to see more evenly dispersed minutes than three distinct defensive pairings.
Barrie's bump in total ice time will be the likely role in our only PP unit.
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ujju2
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He was arguably our best defenceman in the last stretch of games last season. If his back holds up (which is a big if) he's a solid top-4 guy.
The Nuge
Some say…
Jones - Larsson should be a pair imo. Russell - Barrie would work well. Because 3 of our 4 best dmen are right shots, we’ll probably see a fairly even split among the pairings this year. The question is do you want 2 relatively equal pairings (Russell/Barrie, Jones/Larsson), or an offensive minded pair (Jones/Barrie) and a defensive minded pair (Russell/Larsson).
Larsson got better as the year went on imo. I wouldn’t call him a #2 anymore, but I’m still more than happy with him on a second pairing. Saying he was barely bottom pairing material is underrating him. Everyone knows he isn’t what he was in 16/17, but that doesn’t immediately make him bad. When Lucic’s offense fell off a cliff, he was still a good bottom 6er, but because of the level of his decline, people called him the worst player in the league, when that wasn’t accurate at all. He was basically a better Ryan Reaves (who everyone loves). The same thing is happening with Larsson.
He’s not that bad. People forget he used to play a huge role in Colorado. Whenever Johnson missed games, Barrie was their go to guy, and I always came away impressed. He’s a #2 dman, and people are forgetting that because of how badly Babcock misused him. He had 6 points in 22 games under Babcock, and then immediately returned to his usual 50+ point pace when he was fired. That’s awfully telling, and it wasn’t just the points that changed. Luckily our coach is about as adaptable as anyone out there, so we should know which guy we’re getting.
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