This is exactly why I can't stand Fowler discussions on HF. The bold is completely false. Krug and Vatanen are comparable. I would consider Fowler more of a "defensive defenseman" than an offensive defenseman. People don't see it that because everything about Fowler indicates the opposite. However, his defensive game is where he's best at, and definitely where we'd miss him most. People love shoving advanced stats down our throats (another reason I despise Fowler discussions here), and ignore usage. People that watch the majority of Duck games know Fowler's importance. Although it's debatable, I'd prefer to keep Fowler over Vatanen. Fowler takes the hard matchups in unfavorable situations. Lindholm started getting some of that responsibility as he became more consistent. Fowler also carried the weakest D partner most of the year, while maintaining a high level of play. Fowler's weakness is that he's on the soft side, and that his shot sucks. He had several opportunities on the PP where he should have scored. Why is he on the PP? Transition. He's the best transition defenseman we have, and it's not close. Vatanen does a lot of "fancy plays" where he goes from one end to another, but Fowler is easily superior in the transition game, and entering the offensive zone on the PP.
I think the bottom line is that Fowler is much more important to Anaheim than most realize. People look at his poor fancy stats and come to their own conclusions. Any time this happens, it's really impossible for fans to come up with some type of agreement. Every fan base has their right to their own opinions, but there's no doubt in my mind that fans are underselling Fowler severely. Edmonton for example, although he's not exactly what they need, I think he would instantly become Edmonton's best defenseman. I know people will say "he's not better than Larsson", and that's fine. I won't lie, I haven't seen enough of Larsson to know how affective he is. I do know that most here believe Lindholm is superior to Larsson, and if someone asked me who was the best defenseman we had last year, it'd be Fowler. Lindholm was the best in the playoffs and the last 3rd/4th of the season, but Fowler was the best for the majority. It's not just other teams underselling Fowler though. Several Duck fans do the same thing. They forget that to start the season, when everyone was ass, Fowler was terrific. I'm as big of a Lindholm fan as any Duck fan, but I don't ignore the first 3/4ths of the season. He's got his flaws, and they are infuriating, but he's much more important to Anaheim than people realize.
