I think he does much better when he's a complimentary player. He is certainly not a #1 or #2 guy. Edler is a very good NHL caliber Dman, but he isn't that #1 or #2 guy that everyone thought or thinks and won't ever be. That is all well and good but when he's your highest paid Dman on a salary structured team it leaves some issues.
"So somehow Edler is known as a 4th defensemen in the NHL yet he's a #3 on team Sweden , that really tells you something. I think teams will now realize how good he is. Should boost his value a fair bit."
Dont let the trade boards fool you, a few detroit fans were praising him in this tournament and being underrated and while they will suggest a low return, they were licking their chops at the idea of getting him on the wings board.
I still think he would be great on either Ottawa or Detroit , and he'd have some fellow swedes on D over there. Would be great trading partners as well. Detroit have a ton of young players that I like and maybe something around Ziba and Edler could work.
What about someone like Lazar? I know our center depth has gotten better but do you think he'd be a good fit as part of a package for Edler?
How nice would it to have:
Edler Ehrhoff
Hamhuis Tanev
Stanton Bieksa
Very
It seems to me that every successful D pairing needs one leader, and one complimentary partner.
In the case of Edler on team Sweden, Karlsson was a leader, and that would be why Edler looked better - he wasn't expected to lead. Being a leader is a natural quality, much like we see with forwards, too. But people never really talk about defensive leadership.
Edler saw the most success, and most progressive development, when he played with others who could lead him. At that stage of his career, it was because he played with a vet: Ohlund, Salo.
Christian Ehrhoff was a natural leader. He led that pairing, and Edler again was the complimentary player.
Edler does not have leadership qualities. If we want to expect the best of him, he needs to play with someone willing to lead the pairing. I feel like the reason Edler has been so horrible for the last 3 years is because he has been told to lead. Whenever he plays internationally, he is placed properly as a complimentary player.
Edler will never be one to lead a pairing.
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Add to that the fact that you need to fit play-styles, and you can see why the Canucks defense is the way it is...
Hamhuis - Tanev is great in its own end, but completely useless offensively because no one can lead it. Both of these players are complimentary players, or "Seabrook's" if you will.
Stanton - Bieksa is good because the players match up, and Bieksa can lead the line... At times. I think Bieksa's problem as a player is that he is inconsistent. Whenever he falls back and fails to lead, his d partner - no matter who it is - gets thrown off. That is when you see Bieksa pairings fall completely apart. The reason Bieksa has looked good with Hamhuis and now Stanton is because they are good enough in their own zone to cover up the bad. So the good shows when it shows, and the bad is swept under a rug. This is exactly when you want to see from your 3rd pairing.
Not only is Edler not a player who can lead, but he has been switched from being the Stantonesque-stay-at-home to being a Bieksa who can't lead... To find what we need for Edler, we either need a player who can lead a pairing, but is good enough defensively to cover up Edler's mistakes... OR we can tell Edler to go back to being the stay-at-home guy....
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We haven't seen much of Garrison for the exact same reasons. He needs someone to lead him (like Campbell did). Garrison is at least better than Edler in his own zone.
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Should have never let Salo go. He should have retired a Canuck. I said it all along.
This exactly. Not too mention Torts really put Edler on the spot from the very start of the year and basically said he has to be more of a leader, talk about pressure. I think it really effected his game.
How nice would it to have:
Edler Ehrhoff
Hamhuis Tanev
Stanton Bieksa
Very
Poor Edler Hopefully someone buys him a lollipop.
Zibanejad would be awesome to pry out of Ottawa. Young former 6th overall who has been playing well and would be great to build around with Kassian going forward.
Don't think they'd give him up without a fight, though. And Sens fans are in love with him.
The problem was that Ehrhoff wanted ~5.5M. We probably could have signed Ehrhoff/Bieksa/Edler all to identical ~5.25M contracts but that's an extra 2.5M.
That means we would've had to replace Booth with a guy making 2M per year. There's no way Gillis would've been able to sign a 2M tweener like Torres or Penner.
/s
The problem was that Ehrhoff wanted ~5.5M. We probably could have signed Ehrhoff/Bieksa/Edler all to identical ~5.25M contracts but that's an extra 2.5M.
That means we would've had to replace Booth with a guy making 2M per year. There's no way Gillis would've been able to sign a 2M tweener like Torres or Penner.
/s
Turf Ballard a season earlier (which should have been done) and Bieksa and Ehrhoff would still be with the team.
I still don't see any argument where Ehrhoff didn't deserve a 5.1-5.3M contract.
50pt d-men don't get paid 4.5 in this league.
That's really what the argument was about… he isn't a 50 point d-man. At least not without the twins and a top ranked PP.
Ehrhoff got offered what he was worth and chose to chase money instead. That's not the kind of guy you want on your team anyway.