Quote:
Originally Posted by pcanuck
Hainsey isn't even a top Dman on this team. I'd rank him behind Enstrom (PP), Bogo, Stuart, Clitsome and even Flood and/or Festerling. I'm also taking into consideration he's making more than any of those players. I mis-spoke earlier - he makes $4.5M and is not worth it despite lagging minutes.
As for Buff, I simply dislike his contract. His contract suggests to every player on this roster that you can show up late, overweight and still get paid. Many on here have argued that he's cool under pressure and not lacking effort. But I think that remains to be seen. Several sports writers in Winnipeg and elsewhere have made the lacking of effort comments. Are they all wrong? I do hope Buff's mindset changes. But until then, he'd be on the block - and to be honest, any Dman making 5.2M a year is not easy to trade unless you're considering he's somehow better than the Doughty's or Suter's out there. And that would be some kind of leap to me.
As for Buff's contributions - I say this ... every team that made the playoffs this year scored more goals than allowed. Can you say that Buff promotes defence first? Or is he more of a risk taker?
Look at the teams who've won the cups - have they been the barn burners like the Capitals with Ovie or has it been the teams that have forwards and defenceman that play smart 2way hockey?
Noel has preached this at every level he's coached - I hope he can bring it to this club next year. The link is here http://espn.go.com/nhl/standings - if we don't bring our GA down, we will be out a playoff spot again. Relying on our Dmen to score and lessening the load on our forwards doesn't seem to be good strategy to me. Playing good D wins championships at nearly every level of sport. There's a reason it's a cliche.
Our D must get better next year. Whether it's Buff getting into better game shape and taking fewer risks or it's an overhaul of what we have - because it's not working. This is not a rush to judgement - this is almost the exact same team as last year with the exception of waiver wire Clitsome and UFA Flood who rarely played. |
Clitsome, Flood, and Festerling better than Hainsey? Ummmm, yeah no. You pretty much lose any and all credibility with statements like that.
And because you dislike Buff and his contract you want to dump him for a 2nd round pick? Terrible asset management. Buff has his warts and hopefully will continue to improve as he did during the season. Seems like you are also conveniently ignoring the analysis that Wpgpage did on Buff that shows him to be a positive contributor for us. But I guess because you don't like him or his contract that pesky stuff like reality doesn't matter.
