jaster
I am become woke, destroyer of ignorance.
- Jun 8, 2007
- 13,654
- 9,293
Here you go:
Case for Stecher: currently the best Wings defensemen available to Seattle and not the worst defender on the Wings roster (this is however, a bit like being the tallest midget). Has limitations as an NHL player but competes hard and has above average mobility. Not a naturally gifted passer of the puck.
Case against Stecher: only under contract for one more year. Wings fans tend to overrate him (a combination of fancy stats + having low expectations from watching much worse defensemen for a long period of time). We could protect him, but there is no guarantee he will re-sign with the Wings. I for one don't see him as having much deadline trade value. He doesn't fit the style of defensemen coveted for the playoffs. He competes, but on his best day he is league average defensively (if not below average) and doesn't bring enough offensively to have a net positive in playoff hockey. Teams looking to upgrade at the deadline will always have better options. He also brings absolutely nothing with respect to specialty teams which also makes him less attractive at the deadline.
Case for Lindstrom: cheap, still young, team-controlled player. Pretty solid one-on-one defender in the defensive zone (not as good in transition), reads the play well defensively, maintains a close gap and is quick to close, has a good stick and takes good angles, has shown enough to suggest he could still develop into a solid, stable, bottom-pair defensemen (which is the best Stecher would be on a more competitive team).
Case against Lindstrom: not currently as good as Stecher (may never be), probably won't make it too far up the lineup on a more competitive team due to mobility and limitations with his offensive game, could still stand to get stronger.
Well done, monkey!
I agree with that at large. I do think Lindstrom has a chance at developing into a good enough shutdown defender to be a middle-pairing guy, however that's far from certain, and even if he does the Wings will hopefully have 4 better defensemen by then. Then again, part of the makeup of a winning roster is often having a top-4 caliber player on your bottom-pair. Would be a boon if Lindstrom developed into that, though we do have plenty of other defense prospects who might do the same.
For me, Lindstrom is at least a little bit interesting. I respect Stecher's compete and he seems like a solid teammate, but he's not very interesting when it comes to roster makeup right now. In the end, I'd simply feel more depressed about our roster protecting Stecher than I do Lindstrom