I said before Sandin is the better offensive player, and Lilly is the better defensive player, and i'm sticking by that.
This was evident in the AHL last season, and for the most part this pre season.
Sandin obviously outplayed Lilly in the pre season, but Babcock never gave Lilly much of a chance. When you take everything into account, Lilly had fine in training camp, and he is not worse then guys like Holl, Harpur, Schmaltz.
If Lilly isn't ready right now, he is pretty close.
Also everyone can we stop with choosing sides on the 2 players. We have 2 potential top 4 defenceman who bring different skillsets. Sandin taking such an unexpected step quickly, doesn't mean Lilly isn't good.
Lilly is developing nicely as well.