Quote:
Originally Posted by eXile59
I think it's just people trying to rationalize. I hope Staal finally gets the credit he deserves in Carolina.
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I was saying all season that Staal's defense wasn't up to his own par this year. It was still very good, but Sutter's was better. Here's some support for that with stats.
http://hockeyanalysis.com/2012/06/23...randon-sutter/
Do I think Sutter is a better defensive player than Staal? Not when they are both playing a pure shutdown role. But Staal hasn't done that in two years. When he added the offense to his game he did it at the expense of his defense by taking more risks trying to score. Sutter has played a very defense first game his entire career. Because of that he has played better pure defense than Staal.