hirawl
Used Register
- Dec 27, 2010
- 3,383
- 1,488
I thought the same thing watching Panthers last season. He's come a long way and I am happy for his, and Panthers' success.Gonna give a little plug for Niko Mikkola here. He's probably not the most underrated defenseman in December 2024, but he had a case at this time last year. When the Panthers signed him, we were told by Blues, Rangers, and other fans that Mikkola was at best a replacement level bottom pair guy who gets minutes because of his size.
This was immeadiately shown to be false. Mikkolas was a 3D caliber guy from the first game. He has a lot of tools and a high hockey IQ. Florida fans were worried when Weegar, Forsling, and Montour were all promoted up the lineup over the years, but nobody had any qualms about tasking Mikkola with leading the second pair in 2024-25.
I'll expect him to anchor second pair for Finland in the upcoming national team matches. Tall task, but maybe he'll be up for it.Mikkola was out there game 7 last minutes. He is clearly a very trusted player that plays a simple game. Good call.
Nah, there’s some advanced stats people like Dom who literally rank Parayko as among one of the 5 worst contracts in the league, which is crazy. A lot of people read that stuff and think he fell off, when in reality he just gets insanely hard usage and doesn’t get much help on the Blues. But he’s definitely still a legit shutdown guy.Everyone knows how good Parayko is though. Just because he isn't ranked in the top 20 or 30 doesn't mean he is the most underrated.
Zach Werenski? Dobson?