It can't be 100% perfectly isolated but we can get a pretty good idea where the issues are through measures of shot/shot attempt quantity and quality, scoring chance quantity and quality, etc.
We've had defenders have ups and downs, and make defensive mistakes, like all players. It's just exaggerated because we're emotionally invested, so most people will always think that their defenders are worse than the opponent's.
When people watch games, and their team gets a shot/chance/goal, they will skew significantly towards perceiving it as their offensive players doing a good job, and not the opponent's defensive players making a mistake. When their team gets a shot/chance/goal against them, they will skew significantly towards perceiving it as their defensive players doing a bad job or making a mistake. Goaltenders get a little blame, but unless the score gets really high, even they are often absolved if anything resembling a mistake can be seen at some point in time before the goal. Reality is, mistakes happen. For all players. A lot.
We lost Muzzin (his partner) basically when he signed, and then a couple weeks later we lost Rielly, and then a couple weeks later we lost Ceci, and then a couple weeks later we lost Muzzin again.
The past 3 years, he's been overall great, and a big part of our success. He masked a ton of issues with our horrible defense over the past 3 years. This year, he's been complete, absolute garbage in comparison. One of if not the worst starter in the league, even though our team defense was actually much improved this year.
I'd argue it's actually the complete opposite. Under Babcock, our defense was garbage, and Andersen was great (aside from Octobers). Under Keefe, our defense has improved to league average levels (despite massive injuries), but Andersen has been horrible. I have confidence that Andersen will find his game again, but many people have trouble accepting that it's Andersen, because our defense has been so bad in the recent past. It takes a long time to shake a reputation, especially defensively.
I think what we need more is for him to not be injured all season, but I mostly agree. Maybe we have already found that partner in this signing. People like to laugh, but he's highly regarded, and we don't need him to be a superstar to be an effective partner for Rielly. He had a career year with a heavily declining 37-38 year old Hainsey...
