Trotz's shade on Shattenkirk "I think everybody thought of him as a 1-2, and he really wasn't."

[aufheben]

Two goals. The first goal was an awful defensive play. Caught himself in no-mans land between a hit and a poke check which let the puck get through. Then on the Niskanen goal he not only carelessly tosses the puck up the boards and turns it over, but also gets burned by Wilson coming back into the zone. Then gets caught standing around doing nothing in front of the net during the scramble.

Let's not pretend like this is the first time this season he's been caught making terrible defensive plays either.

Come on man, Shatt and Vesey are the only players who did anything right on that play. Follow Nash, Hayes, and Skjei.

 

[Trxjw]

Come on man, he was the only player who did anything right on that play. Follow Nash, Hayes, and Skjei.

What did he do right? He was slow to close the gap, didn't really take the man, and didn't really break up the play in a meaningful way. Watch the replay in the clip you posted. He had plenty of time to beat the player to the puck and chip it up the boards. Instead he tried to body the guy and missed. It was a bad defensive play and the other players making mistakes doesn't absolve him from making a poor decision.

 

[rumrokh]

Wait until some of those top-pairing guys exit their cost-controlled deals (given Shatty is getting paid exclusively in his UFA years), as an aside, there are only about ~15 at most #1D in the league, so sounds about right.

You said "top-pairing type," which I took to mean a guy who performs well enough to play on top pairings; but if you meant "inarguable #1," then I fully accept that.

However, he's still getting paid as a top guy right now and will be for the next couple of years. You can always say "just wait" about salaries. Not that many guys are set to leapfrog him over the next couple of seasons.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

I'd love to have Shatty as a #3 on my team. He's one of the better offensive defence men in the league who cares if he's not perfect offensively.

 

[Armourboy]

Considering Trotz is never one to BS too much I'm not surprised by his comments, he was asked a question and he answered it.

I mean it's not like he doesn't know what a top pairing Dman looks like, he's only coached Weber, Suter, Timonen, and Josi over the years.

When I think about where a Dman stacks up I think about where he would be playing for us given our top 4. With everyone healthy he would be our #5. That tells me what I need to know.