...surely we can agree, though, that Coffey is still one of the greatest ever defenceman to ever play though?
He was atrocious defensively. The funny part is, Bowman put up with him in both Pittsburgh and Detroit (for awhile), because of his offensive ability, and puck possession, even though they got into it many times.. It’s funny how much better Detroit became after he was sent packing, because you never think of how bad he is, when was skating the puck at will.
Look, Im a big Coffey fan, but he was a wing playing D in the NHL and very few players ever got away with it at that level of success, being that bad defensively. I was on the ice with him a few times when he was playing in LA and I was in Long Beach. I’d played with and against some great players who went on to great success in the NHL. He could do things I couldn’t even comprehend as a dman. When you’re a 21 year old kid thinking you have a chance and step on the ice with players like Coffey, you have a long look in the mirror afterwards. I still thought the boards were my best friend, and that I’d be benched for passing the puck anywhere near the middle of the ice, and this guy could skate through the best of the best, at will.
At the end of the day though, he still hurt teams as things get tighter in the playoffs. It’s why he played for so many teams.
In no way would I ever compare Walman with Coffey except to say, people in SJ are making the same mistake many in Detroit made originally, and some still do. They judge him purely off of the good, and ignore all the bad. He literally couldn’t play in Detroit, with anyone but Seider.
He’s in the best situation for himself right now, because there’s no expectations. Nobody’s gonna be breaking down every shift because SJ isn’t going to be in the playoff hunt. So they’ll concentrate on the good. I thought maybe he had turned the corner too, for about a month in Detroit, but he quickly went back to the old Jake Walman. Where Seider spent half of his shifts, recovering from Walman’s turnovers.
It just became too much and they tried moving him down to the bottom pairing, and it didn’t last a complete game. He was stapled to the press box for the remainder of the season.
Jake’s a filler Dman. That’s what he’ll likely be the rest of his career. Someone you can play minutes because he’s physically capable, in a Top 4 role on teams rebuilding, etc. Once you start having your young Dmen getting ice time, you really don’t want players like him and his bad habits, taking their ice time, and he’s not good enough to protect them defensively, as a partner. Like a Maatta for example.
The Sharks will move on from him as soon as their young kids are starting to demand ice time, and their games become more important.. Very rarely will you have a young kid like Seider, who can already protect other players at 21-22 years old. Detroit now has 2 more of their prospects playing now, so it was time to send Jake to his next bad team, as Detroit was taking that next step. Guarantee, the same outcome happens in SJ.
