Id be shocked if Mcbain was the one to lose a spot to Faulk. For better or worse, Joslin and Harrison sit.
At least to start.
Joslin will likely be on IR by the weekend. If not, he's one miraculous healer!
And Harrison won't sit, pretty sure about that. I till don't get why people think Harrison is a scapegoat. He was singlehandidly the single most reliable and solid defenseman over the course of last season.
Pitkanen - Gleason
Kaberle - Faulk
Harrison - McBain
This is based on actually watching the D play together, rather than predetermining that "Kaberle needs to play with a defensive D" and then figuring out which bottom-pairing pylon defensive D we are going to play out of position on their off-side. Faulk is a right-shooting right D, and he's no less of a Top 4 defenseman than Allen or Harrison.
Harrison-McBain played really well together when White was playing with Joanna, and putting any two of Harrison/Allen/Joslin together is pretty much just forfeiting the game.
As for how this impacts special teams, I'm of the opinion that 1) most of the game is played at even strength, so that should be the first priority 2) a team that draws significantly more penalties than it takes every single year should be worried more about the powerplay than the penalty kill. So, yes, I'd rather have our D be able to skate, move the puck, and play at their proper positions and have to put up with Jamie McBain or Justin Faulk on the PK than have pylons handle the puck on their backhand and have Tim Gleason single-handedly kill off the back-end of every PP.
Last edited by Amaxing Joni Jokel: 10-04-2011 at 09:26 AM.
Is this REAL hockey discussion or fantasy? I wouldn't have McBain on my fantasy team, no upside.
Funny that this thread popped up today. Had my fantasy draft last night that I totally forgot about, and ended up taking McBain in Round 19. He's my 5th defenseman though. Overall, not a bad lineup for auto draft:
A week ago, he wasn't expected to make the team, and there's no telling how long he'll stay up now that he's made it. Hard to predict anything with that in mind.
I'd try and find another option at D, you never know with this guy. Seems every little bump is followed by a 5+ game absence.
Nobody has said anything officially on him yet, but he's still on the trip according to the broadcast last night. That could mean they expect him to be able to play by the end of the road trip early next week.
