Here's a little more information, his play in his own end has been improving overall and he isn't the only one with issues back there. The guy is never going to be a defensive stalwart, people really need to start understanding that. His role will always be to push the puck and try to drive the offense. He played a solid game last night, and that includes defensively. People are going to just yap about his defensive game, regardless of how he performs, it's just what they believe. Match ups aside, he outplayed Poolman last night AFAIC.
Also, being able to make a good outlet pass or outskate a forecheck, kind of solves a lot of problems in your own end.