Toby in my mind was the epitome of a 2 way defenseman. He was competent everywhere, and so smart. He found a way as a small defenseman to win battles with much bigger men, using his stick and smarts.
Sure he did have his weaknesses, he wasn't physical so he struggled with net front with and some contact battles on the boards, and when he lost a step he really took a beating at the end.
However, he's the prime example of how a smart, mobile defenseman with defensive chops could help a guy like Buff. In the early days he constant saved 33s bacon after ill advised pinches, staying up in the play, and big hits. Then when Buff decided he wanted to actually play some D, Toby contributed at both ends of the rink and helped Buff with zone exits.
He was Buffs Demelo/ Samberg, but with offensive prowess.
I think he's actually a bit underrated here, whether that be advanced stats, size or partner bias coming into play.
Great sequence of posts, and a very useful analysis of what we might call the complementarity of D partners. Buff benefited from Enstrom, and eventually Toby from Buff. Trouba was never better than with JMo, and while JMo had to suppress his offense in that pairing, they were very effective. It's maybe the most sum of its parts position in hockey.
The clue's in the words, I guess -- D are always "partners," or "pairings," never just "linemates." They don't need to play the same game at the same level, but they do need to have the smarts and experience to understand each other's game and be in the right place at the right time to fill in the gaps.
Samberg has that brain, and a skillset to make sense of it, which is why IMO he was able to play so well with Schmidt and now Pionk, who play such different games. There's immense value in being that sort of player, even if he isn't getting Norris or all-star votes.
And that ability to form a pairing is what holds a player like Stanley back as much as his footspeed or tendancy to panic. He's always playing his game, and rarely to my eyes playing the same mental, circumstantial and positional game as his partner, which means difficulties for both of them.
I haven't seen enough of Salmo this year, but in my limited viewings last year he seemed to be much further ahead in his ability to adapt to partners and specific game states. I do think Heinola has that ability also.
Not sure that the Jets have another JMo in the wings, but if they can turn out a few more with Samberg levels of complementarity then they may have enough to go far.
