Although, I tend to value hard hitting but possibly poor positioned defenders a lot higher than most. Brooks Orpik being my favorite NHL player, and all.
90% of the league would be happy and lucky to have Phaneuf on their team, Toronto fans just need to realize that.
Had it been directed at you, I would've quoted you. I just mean in general, it seems like Dion gets a lot more criticism than he deserves.
I think you misunderstand the criticism. Dion is a good player. He's just not a smart player. He has all the tools to be elite, but lacks the brain. That leaves him as a quality player, but not the best of the best. The Phaneuf criticism actually went down after being traded to Toronto.
As for Dumba, he can't turn into Dion because he's a smart player. It would be great if he put the tools together like Phaneuf, but that would leave him a much better package as he has the hockey smarts to truly excel with the skills.
Tweeted Craig Button about Dumba, here is what he said
"Matt is an excellent player IMO, i think he has been playing not to make mistakes, part of his development is finding balance, I think he's trying to find that, when you hear bout being high risk it can change the way you play, i think he's at his best when he is initiating, skating, attacking, hitting, has a presence in game when he plays that way, part of growth."
so if you put together that Dumba is on a weak team, and he is trying to be a more responsible player you can see the reduction in stats. i do have my doubts about this pick, but i'm hoping for the best with Dumba
I was real high on Trouba to be our pick because of the history of top picks to come from the development program. Plus, its not like his offense was totally stagnant. As for Dumba, I think its just a matter of him changing his style of play and trying to do too much on a bad team.
Drafted as an offensive defenseman but putting up worse numbers than last year.
Playing more of a defensive game this year or just not playing well and not seeing the ice as much?
"Offensive defenseman" can be a bad term. Dumba is more of a puck rusher than a puck mover, or just a shooter.
He's putting up lesser offensive numbers this year, but his team is just bad offensively. They're third worst in the WHL in goals per game with only 2.60. That's about 10% worse than last year's figure for the team (they did finish fourth worst in the WHL last year). He's still by far the team's highest scoring defenseman and is only 3 points behind the team lead for points.
I've tried to ask the prospects board a few times if he's playing normal minutes again (instead of those impressive, but bad for development 30+ minute games) but haven't had a response. I have heard that he's outperforming expectations in the defensive zone.
I'd say he was drafted less to be an "offensive defenseman" and more to be a high energy player who can also bring offensive pressure from the blue line. If he were being outperformed offensively by other defensemen on his team, I might start getting concerned, but as it is I have no worries about his performance in the offensive end right now.
