Having two of the best defensive centres in the modern era probably helps more than people realize. And then Sheahan, Abdelkader, Helm, Glendening, etc... a large percentage of our forwards are pretty good defensively. How many times has Datsyuk singlehandedly bailed out the D?
"If he focused less on defensive play, he'd have scored many more points." It's been said about Datsyuk for years. Maybe our forwards are having trouble generating offense because they have to play a team defense system that stifles offense?
Funny timing. I was just thinking lately about how much our forwards have fallen off defensively. Helm and Abby are nowhere near the defensive pros they were a few years ago, especially with Abby now in an offensive role and Helm a full time winger on an offensive line. Luke is holding on to last year's reputation. Sheahan may develop towards being strong defensively, but right now I don't see he being anything other than above average. Zetterberg has fallen WAY off defensively, at least in terms of consistency and Daystuk, while still great, is not a Selke contender anymore. Combine that with the average-at-best defense of Tatar, Nyquist, Jurco, Pulk, and Richie and it's really not that great anymore. A lot of outdated reputations there.
Meanwhile, I think our defense is actually really good, probably top 10, when it comes to zone play. They suck at moving the puck and they suck at retrieving the puck once the other team sets up but they seem to do a good job keeping the chances low key. I've seen a lot of shifts where the opposition has a lot of puck time in our zone without ever getting good looks.
What?
