Well, there’s a couple of solutions. We could draft more defensemen, like we did with Yakemchuk. But, it will take some time to get them into the lineup and up to speed e.g., Kleven. Its not an easy job to learn the ropes to be a good NHL defender.
Or, we could trade. We didn’t find it easy this year (or last year) to land a good defender. We ended up with Jensen versus another defender who was more highly ranked. That’s not knocking Jensen, but just pointing out that the job is difficult.
I find fans attitudes funny when it comes to defenders. I suspect not many fans are happy with their roster when it comes to defensemen. Its like they expect 2 Makar/Orr level defenders along with 4 Chris Pronger level or style defenders to fill out the other slots. And then, on top of all this, the team would have pay a couple of those defenders small (1 million or less) contracts.
One of the bigger problems with Chabot is how much he’s getting paid. If he was getting half or less than half of what’s he paid now, maybe the complaining would be at least a little less?
As is, he’s got three years left on his current contract. Maybe he can be moved. Usually there’s a way and most players can be moved. But, what price would fans be willing to pay if that were the case, and what is the short term plan to replace him? It could be more difficult than it looks.
