Our D core sucks without TJ Brodie.
That is a fact.
Watch the product on the ice, without Brodie to literally compensate for Ward's horrible systems, we have no breakout plan.
Kylington is the ONLY defenseman in this organization with TJ Brodie's skillset.
Andersson can't skate like Kylington.
Hanifin can't think like Kylington. Yes, Kylington whose hockey sense gets questioned by certain people has better hockey sense than Noah Hanifin, who needs an absolutely perfect Lidstrom-esque partner to be useful.
Tanev is a defensive defenseman. On a good team he is a solid #4. I compare him to Hjalmarsson on those great Blackhawks teams. He's not Keith, he's not Seabrook, and he's not Campbell. And while there's nothing wrong with his game, he's not a player you rely on to carry the 200 foot load.
Giordano is our worst defenseman right now. I love the guy, but he can't carry his D pair and he really misses TJ Brodie.
Nesterov is a vanilla bottom pair guy. I have no problem with him in the lineup but he doesn't elevate anyone else and he doesn't dictate the flow of the game. He's basically a poor man's Brett Kulak.
Valimaki is the closest talent-wise to Kylington but he's actually not as polished as Kylington, I know certain people don't see it but when Kylington is on his game and not being dragged down by an AHL tier partner he is actually a really effective player. Of course Oliver has games where he's bad, all defensemen do, and yes Oliver is not as good as Valimaki at making offensive plays at the blue line out of the cycle, but they're two different players. Going back to those great blackhawks teams, you can likely Valimaki to Seabrook when Seabrook was a great and mobile player, and you can liken Kylington to Campbell or Keith stylistically even if you're reticent to give Kylington any credit for talent.
Stylistically alone, having a defenseman who is the second fastest player in the entire division on the ice is more valuable than having a few pieces like Gio and Nesterov just plugged in.
I don't hate Hanifin, actually his pair with Tanev has been our most steady, but steady doesn't cut it, you need dynamic.
Kylington, Valimaki, and Andersson are our three most dynamic defenseman.
Andersson is being dragged down by Giordano.
Valimaki is solid, but he's not at an elite level just yet.
Kylington is absolutely someone who will help this team win. Go back to the Flames' play in 2018 before the all star break, when we won the west. Kylington was a lineup staple and we were playing exciting hockey. And then we bring in Fantenberg to replace him because some analytics guys don't know how to evaluate the kid and Huska has always hated the kid and we start playing a horrible style that carried through into the 2019 playoffs. Same story last year, Kylington had a low on-ice shooting percentage so the offense wasn't there but he was steady steady steady especially on a pair with Rasmus Andersson. He didn't have a good partner whenenever Andersson got promoted to top four because he was always being dragged down by Mike Stone, so the analytics without Andersson suffered. So they bring in a couple more guys in Gustaffsson and Forbort who... were not better than Kylington. Gustaffsson was productive yes but made Kylington look like Lidstrom defensively. And Forbort was a guy who should have been Kylington's partner, yet the two never even played together.
The team has been as clueless about what they have in Oliver Kylington as they have been with Sam Bennett.
Give him Chris Tanev and 20 minutes a night with a long leash and he will get the kind of confidence needed to become a bonafide number one defenseman. He'll make some mistakes, all top players do, and no one will bat an eyelash. his floor is Jon Klingberg in an expanded role and his ceiling is higher than that as he is actually a strong penalty killer, something the last two coaching staffs have failed to try him in.
