3. His amateur scouting staff is obsessed with drafting “the next Zdeno Chara”.
And yet we literally passed on the giant 6'7" dman who was touted as (potentially being) "the next Zdeno Chara" lol. Color me confused
Im not sure I can get behind the logic on this one....Although yeah its clear that our scouts like big, angry guys. Im really not going to disagree with them either that we need a lot more of them throughout the lineup. Funny enough but if Boucher could somehow stay healthy he would fill a huge team need for us in the bottom 6....something we have sorely needed since Neil retired (ie a big mean guy).....
Its true that there was a little mini renaissance of sorts during the 2010s for the smaller, softer offensive players. And players like Karlsson, Johnny Gaudreau, and Mitch Marner for example - were all considered to be amongst the very best players in the world at different points in time. Players like Mike Hoffman and Kevin Lebanc had a locked down roster spot in the league and even managed to get themselves nice long term contracts.
A Dman like Brannstrom was unanimously seen as a top prospect across the league, and barely anyone cared about his size at in 2017. Especially not after we had all just seen what Karlsson just did on one leg, and post Achilles injury - aka Branny level skating (aka not godly but still pretty great). And many other softer offensively minded players (like Dahlen or Sorenson for example) got to have a cup of tea in the NHL who wouldn't have in any other decade (back when being softer than baby shit still used to matter)....
But today in 2024, its just not the same game anymore. Now that the big strong D men can generally skate as fast and are as agile as the small forwards they're chasing around - if those small skilled forwards dont also have a heart of a lion (ie they aren't Charmin soft) - then they can be completely nullified in playoffs when the checking and intensity picks up.
Heck even the larger forwards can be totally shut down - but at least they can push back if they have some fighting spirt in them. The point being though is that these highly mobile, big strong D men of today are clearly hear to stay imo (like those giant gangly goalies are). And your best bet to counter the big, strong and mobile D is not gonna be by adding even more speed and offensive skills. Especially not for a roster that already has a logjam of capable players fighting for spots on the #1 and #2 powerplays....
Teams are going to have to fight fire with fire and get bigger and stronger themselves if they want to consistently go deep and hang with those heavy contenders. Its the only way. Just ask our blue friends over in Toronto how Dubas' plan to simply outscore everyone while seemingly ignoring team toughness has worked out for them....
