Aho is really growing on me. The one thing that worries me is if the increased physicality of the playoff will make him look like the Aho of past years.
That's my overarching fear as well. But....as far as his improvement, as much as he's not a prospect anymore, he still is getting his feet wet as far as being an everyday player in the big league. So while he's always be a physical liability out there, the fact that the game may be simply slowing down for him now, may bode well for him overall.
At the start of the season, I had him pegged as a 7th/8th Dman going forward, and he may still regress to that level. But at this point, he's progressed to a solid 3rd pairing Dman that seems to be gaining some confidence. And having him paired with Mayfield is about as perfect a pairing as you can find for him. And its not like there haven't been small-ish Dmen in the playoffs before. Being that the rest of the blue line had decent size, its not a huge deal if he's the guy they roll with, IMO.
I was hoping/expecting Salo would be that guy to take the reins on the 3rd pairing. But if Aho is the guy and he plays well, no issue on my end.