I would rather take the 6'4, mean, #1 dman that plays by far the hardest minutes in the league over Stutzle and the season he is having right now. I think Stutzle is number 2 for sure, but acting like Raymond isnt comparable with the other forwards is ridiculous at this point in the season. Even if you can find Sanderson in this tweet, he wont be close to Seiders usage.
At even strength Stutzle is starting 55% of the time, Zegras 57% of the time, and Raymond 43% of the time in the offensive zone. Zegras is on pace for 29 points with 16 goals, Stutzle for 83 points with 19 goals, and Raymond 65 points with 23 goals. Stutzle playing close to a minute more on the PP per game. If you give Raymond Stutzles easier minutes, he definitely closes the gap offensively while not having embarrassing moments defensively like this. Saying theyre not comparable is pretty ridiculous, even if Stutzle is better.
I agree overall, but to be fair...that's a pretty weak example of the Sens guys being "bad".
Stutzle has a minor stick/lane mistake on a kind of wonky tipped puck play but he positions himself well to angle the attacker off into the defenceman. Gets caught puck watching when the system entirely breaks down. But...
It's that useless lump Brannstrom who just completely panics, concedes the line without contest, then kinda vaguely waves his stick at the opposing player outmanned 3-to-1 and cordoned off toward the perimeter. I don't know what you're supposed to do in that scenario. That's not really about back pressure. The LD has to step the f*** up and actually challenge the player to make anything happen there. Take stick, take puck, take the body, do
something. If that's a competent defenceman in a functional system, that puck is turned around and headed the other way...which would completely vindicate the wingers' delayed arrival. That's the foundation of how a quick transition, counterattacking offense operates.
But if you've got guys like Brannstrom just sorta retreating, wasting space on the ice, challenging nobody and waving their stick around like it's Harry Potter's magic wand or something...it's gonna make other guys look stupid at times because hockey is a team game and when someone can't hold up their corner of the unit, bad stuff is gonna happen. A lot.