Dazed and Confused
Ludicrous speed, GO!
Speaking of Connor Murphy…
The left two columns are a a who's who of whom not to target. the right one less so (look at the range vs. 18mph: 2.4 to 7.4/per 60 is noticeable, 0.0 (lol) to 0.5 isn't a massive difference)
Though overall I'm happy with job Kulak has done next to Nurse, and imo he highlights what has been the biggest strength of the bottom 4: Sure he's not a lockdown defenceman, but his skating alleviates so many potential forecheck opportunities for the opposition, that he and Nurse/Emberson (both +skaters in their own right) just never get trapped in their own zone.
Imo if the Oil could find a slightly bigger Kulak, they'd be set on the backend.
This doesn't mean someone like EK65, Matheson, or Murphy, but a Pettersson (PITT), Duloulin, Valimaki, Maatta type.
Personally, I really like the idea of targetting Valimaki in Utah. Sergachev more or less stole his role, and he's ended up in a bit of limbo similar to what Broberg had here behind Ekholm and Nurse. And while 26 isn't young, he'd still help bring the average age of the defence down.
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Kulak
Valimaki-Emberson
Stetcher
I like the look of that.