Chabot criticism has become much more muted lately after a lot of talk of trading him over the summer. Tkachuk critics are probably going to be a little more quiet now too, at least for a bit. LOL.
4yrs x 3 likely wasn't on the table given we traded him 1 month before the market got flipped upside down by Covid. Lots of UFA took haircuts that offseason,
Well, they did also go almost Karlsson's entire 9 year tenure with a gaping hole in the top 4 they were only ever able to salvage briefly with great future cap consequences with Phaneuf. Maybe that was more about money, but nothing new really.
Chabot has been considerably, obviously better and has shut his loudest critics up with his play.
It's no surprise. Jensen has been fantastic so far and they now have some chemistry developed. People don't understand how important having a good partner is for a defenseman. Look at Hughes going from a star dman to a Norris winner once he started playing with Hronek. Jensen is a very smart defenseman who can skate as good as any other player out there, he's been an excellent partner for Chabot and it's exactly what he needed.
deMelo was pretty polarizing, before we traded him some people were contemplating as high as 5 a year while others were calling him a bottom pair guy, but word was his ask was outrageous (probably depends on perspective) which is why we never made an offer at all. Highly unlikely that 3 per was in the table
I mean, they got Hronek in Hughes' 22 year old season, there was an expectation his game would continue to grow.
Brady is a far better all round player than Chabot. Chabot only plays good defense when he has a solid partner to play with. And when's the last time Chabot had a dominant offensive game???
Every top defensemen has a good partener to play with. Just like good forwards play with other forwards like Brady having Stutztle.
I would say that Jensen has been as good as Chabot this year. But Jensen is half the salary of Chabot. And Chabot is paid to be a difference maker which he is not.
Well to be fair. They actually thought Zaitsev was that guy. dj went to bat for him
I mean, they found him in Zub, and the coach opted to play him with Zaitsev and Gudbranson instead, after which they played Zub with Sanderson.
Playing way too many mins, poor defense partner and not having any defensive depth behind him certainly would be reasons for any defensemen to play poorly
Really too bad jensen is 34 already. Hope he can keep it up. He’s welcome here as long as he does.
I think you are being overly generous in your assessment because he has been good with no major mistakes. In the last 5 games he's had no goals, one primary assist with 15 shots on goal out of 35 attempts. He has blocked 10 shots, had 2 total hits and 4 takeaways and 4 giveaways. OK stats but nothing that is outstanding. And I would say Jensen has been equally as good or better.
I would agree that having Jensen for a partner has been very helpful to Chabot and it does seem like Chabot is always dealing with some type of injury.
