Alec Martinez IN; Drewiske OUT vs. Nashville
 

Per NotHelen. Glad to see him back in the lineup.

Down to just two top 6 d-men out. :help:

Good move.

Salute to DD for doing his best to hold the fort. He did a very good job but was the odd man out.

Welcome back A Mart.

Drewiske gonna go get some whiskey now.

Muffin should have been the one scratched...

Looks like it's a 2 man race between Ellerby and Muzzin for the #7 spot next season.

Can't risk hurting his confidence right now. He's played well. Scratching him would be a set back, there's too much at stake with his mental development.

I like Ellerby more than muffin.

Why is whiskey out? I felt he has played a lot better than Muffin.

Awesome, now hopefully people won't crap all over A-Mart if he isn't up to speed in his first few games.

Ellerby beat out DD44? Interesting....

Here is a breakdown of our replacement players.

gp g a pts +/- toi
Muzzin 16 2 2 4 +3 15:40

DavisD 19 1 3 4 +4 14:32

Ellerby 19 0 1 1 +1 15:20 (including Fla)

Over the past 5 games Muzzin has averaged 20:07 mins per game with a career high of 22:43 last game. (Muzzin has played 3 fewer games than either DavisD or KE)

Over the past 5 games DavisD has averaged 15:52 mins per game with a season high of 18:12 last game.

Over the past 5 games Ellerby has averaged 12:17 mins per game with a high of 14:45 last game.

Muzzin has seen a steady increase of his ice time and has improved as a result (he had a ways to go and still does). With the additional ice time Muzzin not only chipped in on offence but also improved on his positional play.

He is a rookie and has his ups and downs but I think he has come a long way so far. Statistically speaking Muzzin has been our best replacement player to date.

DavisD was inconsistent over the past 8 games especially and that is why he is the player that was scratched tonight. DavisD is one of those guys who works very hard and is a solid asset to a team but is just outside of being good enough to earn a full time roster spot. Excellent depth D but not an everyday player.

Ellerby is clearly behind Muzzin in so far as their development is concerned. Both have a ways to go but Ellerby is out of position more often than Muzzin and more importantly Ellerby is still learning how to use his size/reach in relation to his gap control leaving him exposed more often than not.

There is enough there to work with to where I can see Ellerby developing into a solid bottom pairing Dman but he is a bit behind Muzzin in my opinion.

Whiskey is what is he is. Ellerby and Muzzin have been comparable in play, and have the potential to be much more.

44dd!

Muzzin has not been as bad as people make him out to be lately. He's made a couple mistakes a game but he's made less than both Scuderi and DD. He's hitting and getting his shot on goal. Why would anyone want to take him out of the lineup?

Yes. Also, this from Sutter:

I love the honesty and bluntness from Sutter, but man he can be brutal.

I am glad you said this because I also thought Muzzin looked better the last couple of games.

Wow! No really, Darryl, tell us how you feel!

I hope it isn't the kind of thing that the players eventually tune out. At the same time, I really wish someone was keeping all his quotes and would put them in a book because they are gold!

I'd like to see Muzzin use his size more and lay the body on players. When he does it, he looks good. When he doesn't, he looks bad.