Like who, though? That's my only qualm really. I take issue with the idea that McNabb and Forbort are "obviously bad." Miscast at times? Absolutely. Not NHLers? That's why I drew the line where I did and used that to support things. And part of that is my interest in defensive defenseman types, because they often get put in situations where 'not failure' is the best they can do. Robyn Regehr, for example, almost always had terrible stats. He also got some of the toughest minutes in the NHL. Not that Forbort or McNabb can hold Robyn's jock, but it's a similar mission.
I agree I was a little surprised by MacD's straight line speed. Sort of a Bowser from Mario Kart skater
his side to side agility is what kills him but towards the end of his stint he was getting muscled on the boards too by guys like Kase and that was just appalling. I can see why the org sees him as a huge ball of clay. I'll admit there seems to be more to like than I initially thought that's for sure. But he needs more dev. time. I'm excited to see what he can do in big minutes in Ontario now that he's learned quite a bit at the NHL level.
I'm not against that. But you know personally I like Clifford for honest toughness and possession if nothing else. But if the lineup was Kempe-Kopitar-Brown / Pearson -Lewis-Toffoli / Gaborik-Amadio-Brodzinksi / Shore -Mitchell -Lewis I wouldn't be upset at his absence really. I was a big fan of that bottom line when it had no Clifford and was something like Jokinen - Mitchell - Brodzinski because I was pretty high on JJ's IQ out there. As others have said during this slide, the fourth line has been poor in that it's been getting scored on at an abnormal rate; I don't particularly care if they're scoring machines, they just have to not be - machines and have a remote chance of scoring. Shore-Mitchell-Lewis could be a threat.
