The article was not about MDZ. It was about the difference between very good athletes and elite athletes. MDZ is a very good athlete, but not elite.
The reason I used him as an example is that I believe his anticipation of the play is a tad off, unlike McD.
When MDZ first arrived he looked like a possibly great offensive D. He has turned out to be a decent one. My belief is that his most glaring weakness is seeing the big picture. Others here cite his skating speed.
Gretzky was never more than an average skater in regards to speed. Many of the best are not the fastest. The best see the ice better than the others. In their brains, the game is moving at a much slower pace, enabling them to make adjustments quicker.
Pure skating speed is the most overrated part of the game. Malhotra was the fastest skater when he was here. While he is a nice player, he is far from great.
A few things regarding to "chunking"; the whole theory sounds very much like mean regression theory. Meaning that a player's play, at a certain plateau, is what he brings to the table. Now in baseball, a static sport, a wide series of stats are available to measure and predict player's performance.
In hockey, a players usage, role, and utility and their respective production is what we have at our disposal to measure. (Corsi/Fenwick stat gurus can validate or invalidate the seeing eye test)
So let's take the Tyutin-Girardi pair from back in the day. They went up against teams number one units behind the Malik-Rosival pair. Girardi worked himself up from the minors to the 6 D to the 4. (Currently Girardi plays, and has played on the top pair)
It took G years to earn those minutes, and he earned them on merit.
Staal. Same story, quicker rise. He was on the 3rd pair, worked himself into a top PK, shut down role, and then earned top pair minutes.
McDonaugh, even faster rise. Started in the minors, worked himself into a second shutdown pair with Sauer, behind Staal-Girardi. Injury creates a void, Mac Truck steps up.
DZ. Comes in filling a need, and that was the power play. Fills that role, but gets beat defensively. Second year doesn't go well, focuses on D, but plays outside himself, finds time in the minors. Third year, Fourth year, consistent performance.
All of the four hit, block shots, and sacrifice the body. They all moved up the ranks, and all improved their game. There isn't a mean for them to regress to; not yet at least. It is said that defensemen take the longest to develop, and Ranger fans have seen a few good ones come through the pipeline.
The guy that is closest to plateauing is G. And if being at 25 min top pair shut down guy is chunking, then I'll take the chunker.
In line with the article, the "chunkers" that have regressed on the Rangers are Dubinsky, Boyle, and Bickel. All guys that were pushed down the line up during their time here, and the stats and usage followed accordingly.
Guys like Yandle, Karlsson, Green and Letang don't get touched, and play a go-go-go brand of hockey, the Ranger D plays physical and play black and blue hockey. So the liklihood of a 60+ point defensemen on the Rangers was unlikey. Look at Mike Green under Dale Hunter, did he pile up the points?
Maybe all this changes with AV, but I think the system, and how the guys play keep them from being elite offensively. Besides, the team has to score to pad the stats too.
As far as DZ is concerned, the head and the hands are there, but not the legs. But hey Ray Bourque didn't have the legs either, to make up for it, he never went past the top of the circles (Leetch did because he could), and it worked out ok for Bourque.
