sandysan
Registered User
- Dec 7, 2011
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- 6,388
Emelin is the best hitting defenceman on a small soft team. He however should be playing on the left side.
Also he has a howitzer and should be taking 2nd power play duties. Instead, Francis Bouillon had twice as many power play minutes last season as Emelin, although Emelin scored power play points at a rate six times higher than Bouillon did. This may be on Therrien.
Anyway it's smart of MB to trade Gorges over Emelin imo.
Im not sure that being the best hitting defensemen on the habs is the praise some might think.
and is it only me but my impression is that he is decidedly less physical since coming back from the injury. He was never speedy but he's also slower and he will throw a couple hits (or try to) a game but he just seems a lot less effective now.
moving him to the left might help, but to me the question is do we want Gorges where we know what to expect (he may not be flashy but he is steady) or hope that emelin rebounds and resturns to his previous form? im not so confident about the latter, but with emelins NTC it does make it difficult.