id rather have McAvoy playing 3rd pair minutes over playing with krug. Thats a disaster waiting to happen

McAvoy will be a stud, mark my words. Any kid who can come in and play in the playoffs for his debut is a stud waiting to happen.

It's risky I agree because they are both offensive minded, but that's what camp is for. Butch will stress to them they have to be strong defensively

McAvoy 100% will be a stud

A McAvoy Krug pairing would be terrible for McAvoy's development IMO. He doesn't need to come right in and have to be the leader in the defensive zone, as Krug is a liability. That's why we pair our most defensive defenseman with him (Adam McQuaid). Everyone seems to be making the same mistakes, Pairing Krug and McAvoy and also Miller and McQuaid. Those are both weaker pairings than Krug McQuaid and Miller McAvoy and it's not very hard to see that. Krug and McQuaid have been together for years and been very good, why break them up? It just doesn't make any sense and adding to how absurd that notion is theres the redundancy you create by having Miller and McQuaid together. They are the same type of defenseman and do the same things, pairing them with a partner thats the same leaves a lot of holes in their games that someone who played a different style could contribute more. Think of Miller and McQuaid on the opponents side of the red line. They would be so amazingly subpar that we'd be forced to change the pairs almost immediately. Either that or somehow Kevan Miller just miraculously morphs into a 2 way defenseman, which I really don't see happening at this point.

I think you underestimate Krug's defensive game. He's a smart defensemen, knows how to cut angles on opposing forwards and a great skater. I think McAvoy will be the same eventually.
I do understand your point however.
I just think offensively, that pairing could do a lot of damage with the top 2 lines!!

Yeah everyone is looking at the offensive potential of that tandem and not the lack of stability in the d-zone they would offer together. I'm not against that being a pairing after McAvoy gets his feet wet in his rookie season, but for his first year we shouldn't put him with our worst defensive defender. If you don't agree that Krug is our worst defender in the d-zone, I'd like to hear who you think he is better than, but I don't think you would be able to come up with anyone. It's really about giving McAvoy a chance to increase confidence and get better, instead of opening a hole that weakness could penetrate. If he lets up some bad goals due to problems he made, or even from Krug, I think his confidence would take a hit. We should probably pair him with Chara, who's the easiest to play with, just like we did with Carlo's first year and look at what the results were from that. It's all about giving McAvoy a chance to build his game slowly, so why partner him with a guy he's going to have to basically protect in the defensive zone, like Adam McQuaid does for Krug.

McAvoy is already there. He is full of confidence.