No, that is not the argument I am making. If you re-read my post you'll notice two things:
1). I did not wade into the Emberson vs Desharnais debate. I was a Desharnais fan, but I can see that Emberson is growing well into his own role.
2) I very specifically called you out on your disregard for the actual statistics that determine game outcome. And then pointing to on-ice SPCT to disregard his performance... I actually consider on-ice SPCT to be one of the BEST predictors of who is a good defensive defender. If you've played, you know your goalie (and coach) says things like: "let me see the puck, box them out, push them wide, clear the rebounds"... all of that increases save percentage.
Desharnais was a round peg in a round hole in Edmonton, and he performed very well defensively in his role. The stats supported that last year. You can't just disregard them because they don't suit your narrative. When he was in our zone, IMO, by eye test, he was right up there with Ekholm as the best defensively... very active stick, huge wingspan, and people did not camp out in front of our goalies... plenty of shots from the perimeter. It is therefore NOT AT ALL SURPRISING to me that the stats say his goalies had a 930 spct with him on the ice. Heck, I'd probably have an 890.
My commentary on his play last year is not the same as me espousing him as a fully established, consistent year-over-year and in all situations defender. I haven't followed his play in Vancouver this year, I don't know how they are using him and so no... I have no reason to suggest the poor stats this year are lying about his play... maybe they are also true.
One thing to note about Desharnais usage last year is that Knobloch heavily skewed it to in-zone starts, where rushes against were limited. As we know, off the rush, in the neutral zone, that's where Desharnais lack of speed got slaughtered when Woody was coaching.
