[Paywall] Dayal’s rankings of each team’s defense, from best to worst
September 28, 2023
[Paywall] Dayal’s rankings of each team’s defense, from best to worst
2 comments
First of all, I just want to say: Kinda nice to see Dayal getting some league-wide articles. Kid’s always been phenomenal with the analytics, and was one of the last young bloggers that Botch was really pushing and promoting.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting – and this could be Dayal’s homer goggles on – Canucks have are up to “Question Marks” as opposed to “Problematic.” Basically he has us ranked 24th in defense, but given last year’s PK performance, that’s about as much as I think we could hope for here. Here’s his write-up on the Canucks:
> Vancouver’s blue line should be significantly better than last year but it’s still an open question whether it’s playoff-caliber.
> Hughes has taken huge strides in rounding out his defensive game, making him one of the league’s top No. 1 defensemen. Hronek is the big new piece for the back end. If he can sustain last year’s breakout, it’d go a long way toward stabilizing the second pair.
> Soucy and Cole’s ability to perform well in top four minutes will make or break this defense.
> Soucy has been excellent in a third-pair role, but he’s unproven in the top-four, especially with the challenge of playing his offside. Cole has top-four experience but he’s 34 and is moving away from an elite Lightning team — that type of change in environment can negatively impact a player sometimes. If they play to their potential, Vancouver’s backend should be good enough for the playoffs. If not, the Canucks will only be left with two bona fide top-four players.
Canucks rankings are totally fair. Hughes and Hronek are really the only two established pieces. The rest are all basically bets that the team is making.
They’re betting that Soucy is more than just a really good 3rd pairing D.
They’re betting that at age 34, Cole is more of the player he was last regular season than the player he was during the playoffs.
They’re betting that Myers can at least play better than he did last year.
They’re betting that one of Hirose, McWard or Wolanin is an NHL regular.
2 comments
First of all, I just want to say: Kinda nice to see Dayal getting some league-wide articles. Kid’s always been phenomenal with the analytics, and was one of the last young bloggers that Botch was really pushing and promoting.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting – and this could be Dayal’s homer goggles on – Canucks have are up to “Question Marks” as opposed to “Problematic.” Basically he has us ranked 24th in defense, but given last year’s PK performance, that’s about as much as I think we could hope for here. Here’s his write-up on the Canucks:
> Vancouver’s blue line should be significantly better than last year but it’s still an open question whether it’s playoff-caliber.
> Hughes has taken huge strides in rounding out his defensive game, making him one of the league’s top No. 1 defensemen. Hronek is the big new piece for the back end. If he can sustain last year’s breakout, it’d go a long way toward stabilizing the second pair.
> Soucy and Cole’s ability to perform well in top four minutes will make or break this defense.
> Soucy has been excellent in a third-pair role, but he’s unproven in the top-four, especially with the challenge of playing his offside. Cole has top-four experience but he’s 34 and is moving away from an elite Lightning team — that type of change in environment can negatively impact a player sometimes. If they play to their potential, Vancouver’s backend should be good enough for the playoffs. If not, the Canucks will only be left with two bona fide top-four players.
Canucks rankings are totally fair. Hughes and Hronek are really the only two established pieces. The rest are all basically bets that the team is making.
They’re betting that Soucy is more than just a really good 3rd pairing D.
They’re betting that at age 34, Cole is more of the player he was last regular season than the player he was during the playoffs.
They’re betting that Myers can at least play better than he did last year.
They’re betting that one of Hirose, McWard or Wolanin is an NHL regular.