Okay, but have you considered that Skjei is pretty bad?

Except he isnt

What does he do well?

In 2017 you were right.

I don’t mind the Kulak trade, but I just don’t see MTL & CAR getting together on a deal after the Aho fiasco...

Although I'm not actually sure he was the main factor there. If you look at shot maps it looks more like someone was really good at tapping his shots onto net.

Well i don’t. I watched him play and he was real good for a couple years in New York.

Why? I kinda feel like montreal did them a favor.

By the looks of it, he was defensively solid in 16/17, and then good offensively in 17/18, but I do wonder if Kreider or Zbad or someone just helped him a lot with their redirections, cause its mostly the net-front shot-map that's driving that offense. And now looking at it - both of them had insanely net-front shooting seasons in 17/18

Nah. He played well.

He was doing a good job of creating offense. Some of that came back to bite him, but it was a general positive impact. I don't disagree. Looking even more into it, it seems I was super correct, but in addition to Kreider and Zibanejad, Zuccarello and Nash also helped. What I was missing though was Shattenkirk trying to drag him under water. Yeah, he had a solid, offensively oriented season.

He was doing a good job of playing hockey. In all zones. It wasn’t the help of other players. Zero interest in what your numbers tell you happened 5 years ago. I watched. I know.

It really depends on his partner on defense. With Pesce, he has been great. Skjei is free to help out offensively knowing that Pesce can cover defensively if need be.

Everyone who watched is actually correct, which is why everyone who watches the same game agrees on who is good and not. Oh wait...

He's had a negative shot impact ever since going to Carolina. Pesce on the other hand has a good offensive shot impact, but hasn't been the same defensively since 18/19. He's still fine, but is currently playing a more offensively oriented game.

Thats literally the point of the sport

Skjei isnt bad. Rangers' defensive scheme is pretty bad and it made his numbers look worse.

Canes system is better for him. He has a positive xGF/xGA ratio, something he hasnt had in the previous 3 seasons. HD chances for are in the positive, HD goals ratio also above 50%. All of that with him playing on the 2nd pair that gets the majority of the heavy defensive minutes on the team. His O zone starts / FOs are 43 and 45%, respectively, some of the lowest on the team.

Do I wish Skjei would be a little more physical some times or be more consistent with his offense, sure. He is making good sticks that break up offense in the defensive end on a regular basis and skates really well for a big guy. He can carry the puck out of the zone when he feels he has the chance. We can see the dip in the defense with his absence right now.

I get that Skjei isnt a xGF darling or putting the same offense that got him his contract but he is hardly a bad defender. He is about a million overpaid which lowers his value in the flat cap but, still a very solid 2nd pair defender.

Foegele stays over adding Kulak. We could get a 3rd pair LHD pretty easy or go with Sellgren, Honka, or Keane. Unless Hakanpaa doesnt like it here, he probably stays as well. I dont think Debrusk is that guy for us. We could let Seattle take Skjei and then keep Foegele for less cap hit. I dont see the benefit in the Canes making that deal or really any of them.

Gardiner is the guy we need to move. He cant play against top lines. We have the offensive defender to play the heavy offensive leaning minutes in Hamilton. We need a solid minute eater who can handle the defensive zone like Skjei with Pesce.

Is the reason for Skjei being so polarizing the fact that he played on New York, that he makes a decent chuck of AAV, that he makes some mistakes, or something else I’m missing?

I feel much better about the Canes defense when Skjei is in there. The Jake Mistakes (Gardiner & Bean) and Joakim Ryan don’t exactly do it for me on the left side behind Slavin right now. Kulak/Gardiner/Vatanen might be the worst 4-6 in the entire league based on this post.

When I watch the games, Skjei stands out to me as a great skating, physical guy who can win board battles and isn’t muscled out of position on defense. He’s one of the better PK’ers I’ve seen too and he can eat 22-25 mins a night. He is turnover prone, but I don’t see a ton of 4/5 defenders in the league who are not. He’s a great fit in Carolina.

even if he's bad he's still better than any bruins LHD