They were awful against a bottom 3 team in the league. Desharnais isn’t a top 4 dman. Nothing wrong with that. Not something you try for weeks while in the playoff hunt.
Have to think they think it's fine. Most any team would look at that goaltending depth including a viable starter and backup and would be fine with it.
Won't be Kyrou who fits with Thomas as the emerging peak year reset forward core for St. Louis.
LOL it does seem like such a waste. They gotta fly out there, spend a day and a night, find transport to the stadium, spend about 4 hours there, then fly back home.
I talk to scouts at Junior games all the time. TV doesn't always focus where your player is. You want to see what he's doing when he doesn't have the puck. What's his body language on the ice and on the bench. Plus you're just watching the game from a different angle.
Makes more sense with Juniors cause there's less TV coverage and worse Cameras in general. Plus you are trying to dig deeper like trying to assess character on and off the ice. But for pro scouting it seems like a giant waste of time.
Others have answered you. But will add it is the information you want away from the play that requires in-person observation. How is the player's play away from the puck? How is their commitment level to all facets of the game? How is their body language and engagement on the bench? With teammates and coaching? Small pieces of information that help to fill in pieces about the player's aptitude, character, grit and determination, resiliency which are vital components that might define NHL potential or not.
They can watch things like effort/ability away from the play that the camera may not be focused on. If he gets tripped does he cry to the ref like a Sedin or does he haul ass back into the play like Smytty. Plus you can see how they act on the bench. Maybe they're a pouter, the other players roll their eyes when he talks or think he smells bad and dont want to sit beside him. Lol
If you go off these stats it would show that Ekholm is the worst dman on the Oilers and the one making everyone worse which is just simply not true. This is why you can't A) use individual game results and B) need to use context. Defenseman A can put up 40% Corsi against RNH-McDavid-Hyman while Defenseman B can put up 60% Corsi against Janmark-Ryan-Brown, and I think it's pretty obvious that Defenseman A had the better night. Hilarious that you use Kulak-Bouchard as an example b/c the largest reason for Bouchard's struggles last season were due to having to play with Kulak in a 2nd pairing role against opposing middle 6 forwads, and Bouchard immediately did better after playing with Broberg and Ekholm respectively. Brett Kulak's status as a sheltered veteran makes him a problem in deployment and makes it more difficult for the coach and his teammates. Much like how Tyson Barrie was making all 5 defenseman on the team worse last season just by being on the roster, despite his individual on ice metrics being actually pretty good (Kulak doesn't need to be sheltered quite as much as Barrie, but similar concept). Now Barrie is Nashville's problem and making it a living nightmare for Josi/McDonagh and co. His 3 million salary is better used elsewhere.
I'd worry that Tanev is just that little bit better, but that little bit adds up to a whole lot in the momemt.
The issue with Walker and Tanev is that Walker isn't even a guaranteed upgrade on Ceci and has actually played worse than Ceci in most seasons prior to this year. Very sheltered player with very poor defensive metrics most of his time on LA and it's up in the air whether his play in Philly is more individual improvement or the way Philly's system uses him. Tanev has proven to be one of the best shot suppressors in the NHL for the past decade under multiple coaches with multiple partners. Let's go get the guy who for sure makes us one of the best top 4s in the NHL.
Yeah, I was going to mention how I find myself watching a lot of stuff away from the play when I'm at a live game. I like to see how the opposing team's D is situated to counter a breakout. I'm definitely not a scout, but watching on TV, you're definitely limited to what you can see.
