No argument about how Hamhuis and Bieksa played for most of the season. But they were awful (together with Edler and Salo) against LA in the 1st round! A decent article over on CDC from the Edmonton Journal looks at how badly our D played against LA. Looking at the stats for scoring chances, Hamhuis came out at -15; Bieksa was -14 and Edler was - 11. That, together with no scoring, really spelled DOOM for the Canucks' chances!ESQ wrote:I mostly agree with you on Edler - if the PP had been better, he could very well have been a 60-point dman. That being said, I don't agree that he's immovable. He can't move unless its part of a package to upgrade the D though. I would not want to see a top 4 of Hamuis, Bieksa, Ballard and Tanev (I guess?).Orcasfan wrote:I realize that we are all suffering from post-playoff depression still, but to have people seriously suggest that we trade Edler is just mind-boggling! He just turned 26, he scored 49 points...in his "off" year. He plays in all situations; he is a key on the PP, and someone wants him gone. Unbelievable! Yes, he has his deficiencies - who doesn't (even St Weber!). Like most of the team, his play deteriorated in the 2nd half of the season, and culminated in a difficult playoff series. But, in the guy's defense, he played with an assortment of D partners, none of whom really jelled. One problem was that the so-called shut-down pair of Hamhuis and Bieksa was much less effective this year. So, AV was forced to mix and match to try and create a new shut-down pair. Didn't really happen.
Given the prices out there for quality D men, Alex Edler is a bargain. I believe that he will put the last few months behind him and have a real career year next season (his contract year). No way will he get traded!
I think the real challenge for the organization is what to do about Bieksa and Hamhuis as a pair. Will they slip back into their "groove" next year, or not? If not (again), then who becomes the shut-downers?
I don't agree with you on Hamhuis-Bieksa this year. Hamhuis IMO was our #1 dman for the entire year, he had a huge offensive year and was still solid. They were fine until they were split up, which is something I didn't understand.
The Canucks allowed .13 goals/game more this year than last. The bigger difference was the .21 fewer goals for/game. The issue from January on was offense and powerplay, not defense and PK.
That top 4 is just getting punished to death by big and fast forwards. Unfortunately, I can't see how we can land (realistically) a real #1 D who is a physical, take-charge presence. But we definitely need a new guy to on the R side of our 2nd pairing, at least.