SeaOfBlue
The Passion That Unites Us All
- Aug 1, 2013
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So an appeal to authority? By that logic Matthews and Marner won't work together because Babcock doesn't play them together.....
We don't play them together because there the only two defenseman on the entire team that can carry a pair
If Dermott develops maybe that changes and we can play them together
Not even remotely the same.
If Matthews and Marner were on the same team together for like 5 years and never played together besides times when they were stacking offense (which is a huge reason why Rielly and Gardiner's possession numbers are so good in the first place), then I would say you can compare them.
But at this point, no matter what one of Nylander or Marner was not going to be able to play with Matthews because the other one was often going to be the guy who did. Also since Matthews has been here, we have not been desperately looking for a RW to put beside him. How long have we been looking for a top pairing defenseman? How desperate have we been with trying to fix our defense?
I am pretty sure Hainsey and Rielly have played more together in this year alone than Rielly and Gardiner have in the 5 or 6 years combined. I am actually pretty sure coaches tried Marincin with Rielly more often than they tried Gardiner. Either we have the worst coaches of all time for not putting this amazing pairing together by now and trying Polak, Marincin, Zaitsev, Hainsey and Hunwick more with him, or there is some reason that the pairing is not happening. My guess is the latter.