Quote:
Originally Posted by MathMan
You'd think hockey "experts" would realize at some point that being younger doesn't automatically make you better. (Wait, am I allowed to say that on HFBoards?)
Well, Tortorella likes to run his top guys ragged anyway, but with that group... no choice. I suddenly understand why they're such a terrible possession club.
Which begs the question: why did they feel that the best place to spend 7 million of their money was on a forward?
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Richards fixed one of their biggest holes, powerplay quarterback since they didn't have a defensman that could do it. And with Dubinsky and Callahan they can give him the soft minutes he needs to produce on even strength. Not to mention that there really wasn't much out there in terms of defensemen anyway.
Point is fair though, they were counting on McDonagh to be their 4th going into the season despite never playing a full year in the NHL and their 3rd pairing was weak. With Staal out they don't have a shutdown unit any more and McDonagh is forced to 3rd on the depth chart. They had a decent run with those guys in the second half of last season so I guess they felt safe to run with them but they forgot the cardinal rule of defensive depth: Someone is always hurt.