Player Discussion Adam Clendening

[aufheben]

Girardi is our worst defenseman in all three zones. He ranks 201 out of 211 NHL defensemen to play at least 200 even strength minutes in shot attempts yielded per 60 minutes. That is horrific. He is constantly pinned in his own zone. Clendening sometimes makes a bad mistake (Girardi does too btw), but he is excellent at driving the play to the other end of the ice.

Clendo makes a lot low-key nice defensive plays. Got back to disrupt Marner's breakaway, picks up the rebound and moves the puck the other way, Hayes + Miller off the rush = goal.

Marner just misses on a partial breakaway, and Blueshirts use crisp transition game immediately after to take two-goal lead.

But, he'll almost certainly go back to being the #7 when Staal comes back, and will be remembered for that Hyman goal (even though Hyman did the same exact thing to McDonagh while the Leafs were killing about 5 minutes earlier).

He has good positioning and doesn't need to rely on shot-blocking like Girardi and Klein. Interferes a lot and gets called for it, but I think he gets away with it more often, and that could become a skill in itself if he is really invested in. Clever offensive player. Great passer. He's only what, 24? He's a couple years older than Skjei, and there is still potential there at 24. I know he looks like he's 36. Oh yeah he's also been notching a point in half his games; passed Staal, tied Girardi, and is 2-4 behind Klein....in like 25 less games.

I'd also at least like to see him be tried with McDonagh. I can't imagine anyone on this team being a worse partner for McDonagh than Girardi. G's defense is essentially letting the other team enter the zone, and then trying to block the shot. Shot-blocking should be a last-ditch effort, not something you shape your play around. What if you miss the shot? If the shot deflects off of you and still goes on goal? If you block the shot but the other team recovers possession (and you'd likely taken yourself out of the play by committing to a block)? If the shooter knows you're just going for the block and passes it? Even if nothing like that goes wrong, you're still going to be in a difficult position to move the puck after making the block, so the puck is often just shot back in the other direction; the other team retrieves it, and you're right back where you started.

 

[Machinehead]

If Clendening died, his corpse would be better in the defensive zone than Girardi.

 

[darko]

Would love to see McD-Clendo pairing. Said it over a month ago that he should be given a shot.

 

[Irishguy42]

Clendening is *alright* defensively. Has more hiccups than not. That aspect of his game actually wasn't good yesterday.

What he does well more often than not is zone exits, which our team desperately needs.

 

[Raspewtin]

Clendenning is a turnstile on defense. He is inarguably the Rangers worst defensive defenseman. Yes, he has some good offensive qualities, but in a playoff scenario, I don't see him as any more than a trustworthy 7th.

The best career case for him is to go to a team (i.e. Chicago) where the top 4 eat up 50 minutes a game, he gets some power play time and sheltered offensive zone starts.

actually it's Girardi and that's 10000000000x more inarguable.

 

[silverfish]

The term "defensive defenseman" is so backwards to me.

You know who most people think "defensive defenseman" are? Guys who you can remember spending a lot of time in their own zone. You know what that means? They suck at defense.

Time to start thinking about defensemen less like "defensemen" and more like midfielders.

I'm sorry but a guy who, over the past three seasons, gives up 63.41 shot attempts which is 9.29 more than his teammates against while he's on the ice per 60 minutes is definitively not a "defensive defenseman".

 

[Vitto79]

actually it's Girardi and that's 10000000000x more inarguable.

No it's not girardi got his contract because he was a shutdown D. Is he worse now yep but he still blocks shots etc and us waaaaay better than Clendening on D

 

[Raspewtin]

No it's not girardi got his contract because he was a shutdown D. Is he worse now yep but he still blocks shots etc and us waaaaay better than Clendening on D

Girardi is the worst defenseman in the league. Inarguably top 10 (worst), at least. There's no argument otherwise. He can't make plays or skate.

 

[TheTakedown]

truthfully, how they handle Clendening when Staal comes back will be a huge indicator of how much Gorton is controlling AV. In the past we know how AV has treated these guys, and even in McIlrath's case I could understand it because the guy wasn't putting up points. Clendening on the other hand is not only putting up points, but he's doing in some games on his offside with a variety of partners (he's already been paired with just about every RHD on this team).

Long and short, I have a feeling that we'll see something different this time. Clendening has more than proven himself. He has a much larger skillset than any of our RHD, and though he has his faults (Its like some people expected that we signed a RHD McDonagh for $600k), he's a massive upgrade to THIS roster.

We haven't seen Glass for this same reason, and Klein's slowly building that trade value back up to a 2nd rounder. Recoup what you can, develop the young guys

 

[JimmyG89]

The term "defensive defenseman" is so backwards to me.

You know who most people think "defensive defenseman" are? Guys who you can remember spending a lot of time in their own zone. You know what that means? They suck at defense.

Time to start thinking about defensemen less like "defensemen" and more like midfielders.

I'm sorry but a guy who, over the past three seasons, gives up 63.41 shot attempts which is 9.29 more than his teammates against while he's on the ice per 60 minutes is definitively not a "defensive defenseman".

Those are offensive defensemen. As in it's offensive that they are still playing.

I'm here all week.

 

[gorangers0525]

If Clendening died, his corpse would be better in the defensive zone than Girardi.

Idk, AV would probably position Clendening's corpse behind the net.

But yea, a well placed Clendening corpse would definitely win the defensive battle.

 

[The Gloaming]

The term "defensive defenseman" is so backwards to me.

You know who most people think "defensive defenseman" are? Guys who you can remember spending a lot of time in their own zone. You know what that means? They suck at defense.

Time to start thinking about defensemen less like "defensemen" and more like midfielders.

I'm sorry but a guy who, over the past three seasons, gives up 63.41 shot attempts which is 9.29 more than his teammates against while he's on the ice per 60 minutes is definitively not a "defensive defenseman".

Yeah, there's a world of difference between "defensive defensemen" like Girardi, Scuderi, Staal, and an actual defensive defenseman like Tanev, who will get the puck up the ice and won't put up points.

 

[Matz03]

Clendening has been filling in really well, glad AV put him back on the right with Skjei. He'll make the occasional bad play here and there, like any other D, but he's keeping it simple and not forcing plays like Yandle used to. He's more than fine in his own zone, with a partner like Skjei. I have no idea what the Clendening moaners are watching.

 

[aufheben]

Would love to see McD-Clendo pairing. Said it over a month ago that he should be given a shot.

I would like to see it at least tried. I think the biggest issue is that AV would have to scratch one of Girardi/Klein on a consistent basis.

How many times has AV even scratched Girardi? Four, five times? Obviously there was a few in that last abominable series versus Pittsburgh, and a game at the end of the 2014 regular season that AV said was to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

Klein has been scratched once that I remember, and it was this season for Clendening. IIRC the decision was made to add a RH shot to the powerplay with Mika out, and motivate Klein.

 

[Thirty One]

I would like to see it at least tried. I think the biggest issue is that AV would have to scratch one of Girardi/Klein on a consistent basis.

How many times has AV even scratched Girardi? Four, five times? Obviously there was a few in that last abominable series versus Pittsburgh, and a game at the end of the 2014 regular season that AV said was to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

Klein has been scratched once that I remember, and it was this season for Clendening. IIRC the decision was made to add a RH shot to the powerplay with Mika out, and motivate Klein.

I don't think he was healthy scratched in the series against Pittsburgh, was he?

 

[aufheben]

I don't think he was healthy scratched in the series against Pittsburgh, was he?

AV said it was an injury but said vague stuff like "it's the whole thing"

 

[Inferno]

He had a concussion didnt he

 

[Thirty One]

He had a concussion didnt he

Yeah.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hocke...ed-out-by-post-concussion-symptoms-1.11733181

 

[Thordic]

Totally random but anyone else find it odd that Clendening is 24 and looks like he's 35 while Vesey is 23 and looks like he's 15?

 

[Raspewtin]

Totally random but anyone else find it odd that Clendening is 24 and looks like he's 35 while Vesey is 23 and looks like he's 15?

More "hilarious and unfortunate" than odd.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Clendening is *alright* defensively. Has more hiccups than not. That aspect of his game actually wasn't good yesterday.

What he does well more often than not is zone exits, which our team desperately needs.

What I like about him lately is he is showing some edge to his game. On our very soft team that is very very very nice to see.

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

I really like that he plays very aggressive on the defensive blueline, he doesn't give upp free entries much. Sometimes it backfires and they fly past him, but i really like that he holds the blueline. Our D in general back off so much on the blueline that i could gain an entry there... and i have a busted up knee and haven't been on skates in 10 years.

 

[bl02]

man maybe if we had one more decent RHD a MCD-competent RHD, Staal-holden , SKjei -CLendo wouldn't be horrible. Klein just has seemed to regress so much this year (slower and offensive abilities disappeared).

 

[Ghost of jas]

Again, if the top 4 had two legitimate RHDs to pair with McDonagh and Holden respectively, a lot of people would be thrilled developing a young pairing like Skjei and Clendening on the 3rd pairing.

 

[Fitzy]

Sure, the problem is that Skjei looks more like John Moore than Ryan McDonagh, and Clendening is looking more like Thomas Pock than Keith Yandle.