StormCast
Registered User
You are totally missing the point of reference though. That comment about playing a shutdown role was made in connection with Pitkanen, a minute-eating, puck-possession D. He does not consistently play against top lines despite his high ESTOI. He often is mixed-and-matched in latter stages of games with other D's and hence his high numbers.is a pretty limited way to view a #1 Defenseman and would immediately eliminate most of the field. That would limit it to about 5 guys (the Chara's and Weber's of the world). Karlsson is easily a #1 but nobody would say that he is "consistently used in a shutdown capacity". Same goes for many other guys that I'd view as #1s.
Being and effective defenseman has as much to do with generating offense and puck possession as it does being used in a shutdown mode. The Pitkanen debate has been beaten to death so I won't get into that, but I just didn't agree with how you characterize a #1.
In my view, a D doesn't have to be a purely defensive-D (e.g. Bryan Allen last year) to play a shutdown role. To me you play a shutdown role by consistently being sent out there against top lines. That is true of Karlsson though, as I wrote, he gets dinged in my book by not playing a key role on the PK. He actually embodies your point about puck moving and puck possession being part of effective D.