You can't really compare +/- when comparing Stepan and Callahan because Cally's line is facing top competition while Stepan's line is getting sheltered minutes with favorable zonestarts.
Cally being a plus player while seeing the hardest competition among forwards puts him over. It also explains Richards' lack of production lately, as he was seeing 2nd/3rd line competition in Dallas.
Callahan's one of the best 2 way forwards in the league, forget just on our team.
No disrespect intended to Stepan because he's still somewhat of a kid, but his strength level is poor & his skating is not terribly impressive either. Those are 2 very important components of a good defensive player.
Vito thats a retarded comment. You don't think that the Gaborik line is facing top lines? The fact that Stepan is +22 means nothing to you? if there not facing the other teams top line then thee facing there top shut down line.
Personally, Stepan now, and especially in the future, but what it boils down to is how people DEFINE 2-Way forward.
Callahan is more physical specimen, but Stepan has the ability to cleanly strip the puck off a players stick and go the other way with it, and while Callahan blocks a ton of shots, Stepan generally covers his player so well that they often find it hard to get passed to or even taking the shot.
Traits like Strength, Speed, Hitting Power are more about physicality which can help a two-way player, but in no way define the ability of the player to cause a turn over, change the mind set to attack, and quickly look for openings in the play and capitalize on it.
Also as someone else said, when Stepan gains his "Man Strength" he should evolve slightly as a player, hopefully in the speed department more than anywhere else.
Callahan is a great player but he is not a star per se--or put another way he's not a legit 1st line player. He does everything well and some things extremely well--but some of those things he does extremely well are not going to show up on the score sheet.
Stepan has a real chance to be a star--a legit 1st line player and to be honest I'll be a little surprised if within the next 3 or 4 years he doesn't do exactly that. He will be good at everything--his face-offs are even getting better--but what he does best will be the things that do show up on the scoresheet.
Anisimov is a very good player. Reliable--but he just doesn't have as much upside as Stepan.
Callahan is our best two-way forward. There's not many people who can do all the things he does game after game.
Not sure if I will be saying the same thing, say, 3 years from now, but it is presently Callahan. I can definitely foresee Stepan surpassing him though.
