A lot of people would have you believe that we have an excellent defense. After all, we allowed only 212 goals all season, behind only 5 teams (including the-one-with-Zdeno-Chara and the-one-coached-by-Jacques-Lemaire).
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When Googling Lemaire's name to make sure I spelled it right (I did), I learned three fascinating things I did not know!!
1. Jacques Lemaire is the only coach the Minnesota Wild have ever had!
2. Jacques Lemaire quit now that the season is over!
3. Jacques Lemaire is Manny Fernandez's uncle!
Wow!! I didn't know any of those things!! Did you?
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I'm unconvinced. I see a mediocre system with a few good defensemen, one fantastic defenseman, a few bad defensemen, and a superlative goalie, which spent the majority of its season back on its heels playing protective hockey games that ended 2-1. But what do I know? Stan Fischler never asks me.
I've said it before: Marc Staal is the overall best player on the team that doesn't wear goalie pads. This is a guy that absolutely would deserve the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, if we ever gave it to defensemen (Yes, I know, in 1997, we gave it to Leetch. That's it. That hardly counts). You can't say enough good things about this kid, so I won't. He's the future. Hear that, Slats? He damn well better be the future.
Dan Girardi has picked up his game significantly since being paired with Staal (see also: since not having to spend all his time covering for other D-men's mistakes), which is interesting since I've been shouting at my TV that they should make that a pair for a year now. But they never listen to me. Oh, well, they finally did, and look what happened. I can't tell you how glad I am that Torts sees that this is our #1 pair, not our throwaway pair, because he doesn't coach by seniority. Hip hip hooray, and all that. I'm excited to see how good the Staal-Girardi tandem gets over the years to come. Years. Hear that, Torts? Slats? Years.
I have always liked Paul Mara, but he's been significantly less visible of late. Maybe he's just not standing out as much, because the whole team is finally being told to do what he was usually the only guy to do (be physical and skate forwards), but I feel like Mara has some more drive in him. Like with Korpikoski, I just have this feeling that I'd like to see more. He hasn't been bad, I just think there's more in him.
Derek Morris isn't bad. There, I said it. He wasn't the savior of the defensive squad that everyone else wasn't either, but he makes smart decisions. He defends. And, he shoots. Not like our other two "offensive defensemen" who shoot either 12 feet wide or not at all. He shoots, on net, from the point, like it's his job (it is), and when he's not doing that, he's also not giving up odd-man rushes all the damn time. I'm bitter about him because we gave up 3 men for him, but as it turns out, I'm surprised by how nice it is to only feel nervous 1/3 of the time (assuming Torts keeps Redden and Rozsival paired together), and the difference between this one more shitty defenseman (Kalinin) and this one totally competent one really does make me feel better about us. So, good on ya, Morris.
Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden. Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden. Wow. These guys really are not good. They've been alternating slowly over the last month or two: one of them merely barely competent, the other embarrassingly awful. The way these guys make mistakes is completely inexcusable. They cough up pucks in neutral ice as if it is their only option. They choose to pass down the ice only when they can't figure out how to pass it across the zone into traffic - the latter seems preferable. As you know, I said at the top of the season "if Redden plays very well, we will have a very good season." 6 and a half months later, here we are.
Maybe you think I'm too hard on them? Let me now show you, as Larry Brooks calls it, Sather's Folly, in stark detail. You may have heard me throw around an 11-million dollar figure. Let me now put it in perspective.
The NHL Salary Cap for this season is $56.7 million (we are at 56.4). Of that:
-Redden and Rozsival combine for $11.5 million, or over twenty percent
-The other 4 defensemen combine for $5.169 million (9 percent)
-Redden alone costs $6.5 million (11.5 percent)
-Henrik fucking Lundqvist costs $6.875 million (12.1 percent)
There. Compare those fucking numbers. Seriously. Redden and Rozsival absolutely must play significantly better than they are. That is what we need to happen. The fact that they are by far the biggest liability on the ice is an embarrassment. You can't defend against the Washington Capitals with 1/3 of your defensive squad playing this badly - end of story. We need to see better performances from these guys, or we need to see them benched.
I'll end on a happier note. Henrik Lundqvist is still our goalie, and Stephen Valiquette is still our backup, and I would not request another pair if I had my pick of the whole league. Seriously.
Let's Go Rangers!
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