Is Thomas Harley still a thing? | Update: he is THE thing

[LT]

You want to start a war? Start pointing out how Harley is the best defenseman from this draft.

Anttoni Honka says hello

 

[Boxscore]

You want to start a war? Start pointing out how Harley is the best defenseman from this draft.

Mo Seider is a monster. But I think it's fair to say that Harley is the best D from the draft... the kid is exceptional.

 

[Kipper 17]

Who wants to bring up his stats since Miro went down? Should help us all feel a little better about the possibility of Miro missing the first round.

 

[M88K]

Who wants to bring up his stats since Miro went down? Should help us all feel a little better about the possibility of Miro missing the first round.

No it shouldn't.
It's not about production, it's about ability.
Harley playing good was always going to be necessary.
Smith, Dumba, Ceci, and Lyubushkin are all liabilities, all 4 are slow, having at minimum 3 of them in the lineup against a fast skating team like Colorado is a problem.
With a healthy Miro, each pairing can have a babysitter.
The bigger issue is slowing down Mack, and while Harley is definitely a better option for the PP than Miro, defensively it's the opposite.
I'd rather have Miro on the ice against Mackinnon than Harley

 

[Kipper 17]

No it shouldn't.
It's not about production, it's about ability.
Harley playing good was always going to be necessary.
Smith, Dumba, Ceci, and Lyubushkin are all liabilities, all 4 are slow, having at minimum 3 of them in the lineup against a fast skating team like Colorado is a problem.
With a healthy Miro, each pairing can have a babysitter.
The bigger issue is slowing down Mack, and while Harley is definitely a better option for the PP than Miro, defensively it's the opposite.
I'd rather have Miro on the ice against Mackinnon than Harley

Well sure, nothing will make you feel better. I meant it might make other people feel better.

That said, I agree with your assessment of the defense. Really need Miro glued to Nate.

 

[piqued]

The fundamental problem is the org. misconstrues internally what Miro is. He's an elite shutdown defender with plus skating (maybe not anymore, thanks Stone) and puck skills who has limited offensive instincts. This is confusing, because there aren't many players out there in that mold. This difference becomes obvious when you see Harley flourish offensively doing things Miro simply doesn't conceive of. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but all of the supporting cast is built around shutdown types assuming, wrongly, that they would compliment Miro. So now Miro goes out and you have 1 player left who can move the puck or contribute to the attack. (Setting aside the weird games when Lindell decides he's going to play 200 ft)

 

[piqued]

So only Boucher (19, 16) and Daley (16) have had better Dman goalscoring seasons in Dallas than Harley. With 13 games remaining.

 

[BfantZ]

23 points in his last 20 games .

 

[Elysian]

So only Boucher (19, 16) and Daley (16) have had better Dman goalscoring seasons in Dallas than Harley. With 13 games remaining.

Damn, Daley, dude put on some for years in bad times for us

 

[serp]

Damn, Daley, dude put on some for years in bad times for us

That was 2014-15 . By far the best season of his career points wise ( and his defense was much worse than it was usually as a result ) and the year we missed the playoffs because we only had one line ( Benn-Seguin-Spezza ) and Benn won the Art Ross. In the following offseason we traded him for Patrick Sharp and the team got a whole lot better.