Pretty simple question. There has been some debate on the main board over this (all 3 cracked the top-15 of the HF best defensive defenseman poll).
Curious to hear what you all think.
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Until I see the thesis of "He plays to the level of his partner" which might actually have some validity to it, by the way, I have to go with Girardi.
But I suppose it depends on the manner of the question because once you're in the defensive zone, defending, I think its Girardi. But all zones are part of defense and Girardi and Staal both tend to get caught at the offensive blue line, leading to odd man rushes. McDonagh almost never does, and is able to cover when it does happen.
I think McDonagh and Staal are equal at this point and Girardi is only slightly behind. All 3 are so good it's ridiculous. Hurts not watching these guys do their magic each night.
McDonagh is obviously an amazing defender, the way he dominates defensively is stunning.
its kind of hard to find clips of guys playing defense but there are some parts in this video that show him stopping breakaways or breaking up rushes.
now on the other hand there is staal who i think most of the fan base (myself included) has almost forgotten how good he really is when hes on. playoff marc staal who dominated just about everything is the good old marc that i remember seeing before the injury.
The reason Staal is an afterthought now instead of the first thought as he previously was is because McDonagh stepped up his game and we missed Staal for quite a while with his concussion. However, I can agree that when Staal is on his game (it's not always), he is really ****in good. Probably better than McDonagh during those times.
McDonagh's not at Staal's level yet. People here have very, very short memory.
2 years ago, it would have been a landslide for staal, at the beginning of the season with staal out, it would have favored Danny G and now it's back to a McD for many people. If staal was still out or failed to perform at an elite level after coming back, it would be a McD landslide
Girardi makes far too many bone-headed moves to be considered a "good" defenseman. He gets away with a lot because he's had Staal/McDonagh to cover for him.
Show me a clip of any other Ranger defenseman doing that the past 10 yrs.
I believe McDonagh is on the cusp of becoming a superstar, something Staal and Girardi will probably never reach in their careers. MDZ may have a chance.
Show me a clip of any other Ranger defenseman doing that the past 10 yrs.
I believe McDonagh is on the cusp of becoming a superstar, something Staal and Girardi will probably never reach in their careers. MDZ may have a chance.
You really think MDZ has more potential than Staal? And that MDZ will be a "bigger name" than Staal? Staal is steady and consistent, night in and night out. He's the one going up against the Crosbys and Ovechkins of the league and makes them look like they're average. He has maybe 5 straight up bad games a season, whereas MDZ consistently makes a handful of bad plays/choices a night against "lesser" players. MDZ is much more shakeable/it's easier to get in MDZ's head than is the case with Staal.
And slow your roll before you go calling McDonagh a superstar. He's not even on the cusp..maybe of being an extremely good defenseman, but not a superstar. Lidstrom is a superstar, McDonagh is a kid with one and a half NHL seasons to his name.
Anybody who was here during Staal's absence has to remember I was one of his biggest supporters when everybody was saying he was redundant because of Girardi and McDonagh playing so well.
Staal is still our best d-man. The only weakness to his game is that when he's on the point in the offensive zone he still makes bad decisions more than I would like to see. His reach is crazy, he's smart with his stick and body, and he can lay a MONSTER hit when he wants to- however, he doesn't do it night in and night out because he never takes himself out of position to do so. It's great to see somebody with that power not sacrifice defense for the big hit. People also point to McD's age as an added plus, but Staal just turned 25 last January.
However, the last season McDonagh really proved how much potential he really has. His skating is absolutely insane. That Kovalchuk play in the playoffs is crazy, and he did stuff like that routinely. Also, with 32 points in 82 games his offensive game may be burgeoning as well. The next season or two will determine if McD is ready to take the step and become a Ryan Suter-esque superstar.
Staal at 1 with McD at 2, and we'll see how that shakes out in a few years.
Ryan McDonagh was 7th in ES points for defensemen last year behind Karlsson, Bieksa, Byfuglien, Chara, Yandle and Boyle.
He had 2 PPP with 51:22 of PP TOI.
Del Zotto had 322:32 of PP TOI. So about 6.3 times the amount of time.
Assuming that same efficiency (and remembering McDonagh only played the final seconds of the PP with lesser players!), that's about 12.5 PPP if you give all of Del Zotto's time to McDonagh. Now, Del Zotto had 14 PPP in the time he had, but that's with higher talent.
Even if you give McDonagh the 12 points, that's still a 42 point season. If he can even slightly improve his PP efficiency and keep his ES point efficiency as well as get PP time, he could very well become a 45-50 point defenseman.
I hope we give him that PP time. But not until he gets his next long term contract so we don't have to pay him 6-7 mil a season
You really think MDZ has more potential than Staal? And that MDZ will be a "bigger name" than Staal? Staal is steady and consistent, night in and night out. He's the one going up against the Crosbys and Ovechkins of the league and makes them look like they're average. He has maybe 5 straight up bad games a season, whereas MDZ consistently makes a handful of bad plays/choices a night against "lesser" players. MDZ is much more shakeable/it's easier to get in MDZ's head than is the case with Staal.
Yes, I think MDZ has more potential than Staal. I don't think MDZ will ever be a 'bigger name' than Staal, but I think he can be the better overall player. False, Staal is 2nd fiddle to McDonagh, who has surpassed him in only his sophomore season. Staal as of now, is a great shutdown guy that can effectively shutdown the opposing team's 2nd best scoring threat on even strength and can kill penalties on the top unit. MDZ right now isn't better than Staal defensively and probably will never be. I just think he'll be the better player down the road due to his natural offensive talent. I think MDZ being mentally fragile is blown way out of proportion by the media. It's pretty much what you expect from a raw offensive d-man trying to re-establish his game for both ends of the rink.
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And slow your roll before you go calling McDonagh a superstar. He's not even on the cusp..maybe of being an extremely good defenseman, but not a superstar. Lidstrom is a superstar, McDonagh is a kid with one and a half NHL seasons to his name.
Ryan Suter is a superstar and I believe McDonagh is just a tad behind him in only his 2nd season. He is the Rangers franchise player along with Lundqvist.
I voted McD because I think he's more well-rounded than Staal.
Staal may have a slight edge in defensive ability, but McD isn't that far behind him, and his offense and skating lend something to his game that Staal just doesn't have.
At the end of the day, the fact we are even able to debate this is a great thing. I don't think anyone can really get upset with whoever ends up winning this poll.
the Boston Bruins
