He started the season playing the way he is playing now and was pretty good for the first few games. Then Zub got hurt and he was playing with Hamonic which is not an easy transition going from Zub.
Then Zub came back and as soon as he found his stride, Sanderson started looking better and better and you could see his confidence grow as the games went on. They complement each other perfectly. Two guys who don’t talk much, that go about their business and that are fully committed to the defensive side of the game. They are truly one of the best pairs this team has ever had.
You look at Chabot and he’s been worth every penny of that 8M$ contract this season and I suspect he will keep building on that as well. When you’re playing with a partner that’s good enough to help you, you’re instantly that much better. It’s the same for Sanderson. It’s not a surprise that he had an “off” year when you are playing every night with a partner that cannot help you. You become scared to jump in offensively, you hesitate, you always have to be the one responsible defensively and every mistake gets magnified because you are a defensemen playing 25+ minutes a night.
Our D has been the biggest reason we are where are where we are. Our top 4 is very good and we are able to get the puck to our forwards and exit our zone cleanly. It’s a lot easier to play as a team when you’re out of the Dzone on the first attempt rather than rimming it off the boards.
This is a big up to Staios. He may not have hit on every deal he’s made but we needed goaltending and defense, and he’s hit both of those perfectly.
