Modifié 22 févr. à 2 h 20
I always see them being popular trade targets for Toronto, but why? The game has evolved, and we no longer need players who just hit and fight. We need players who hit, fight, but also play hockey. Mario Ferraro; I don't seem to understand because he is a struggling defenseman and putting him in our top 4 is a risk. The common excuse I get is that SJS is a poop team, but the funny thing is - the analytics show Ferraro is apart of the reason SJ is struggling because he himself isn't having good defensive impacts.
Adam Larsson? I'm starting to develop a theory where teams can just put out bottom pairing DFD on the top minutes and advertise to the league like "He plays a lot of minutes. He's a Top-4 defenseman!" and the crazy thing is - teams and fans will eat that up. Example? Ben Chiarot, who was traded to FLA for a freakin' 1st rounder and contributed almost nothing to their playoff run. I get having a physical DFD is a need for the Leafs but why can't we target physical defenders who actually translate that physicality to good defense?
Lastly, Pat Maroon and Zack Bogosian. Don't even get me started; Pat Maroon is Ryan Reaves 2.0. Zack Bogosian is a defenseman who contributes more offensively than defensively but people believe he's some gritty shutdown defenseman because he has a huge beard or something: I don't get his reputation at all, we literally watched him play during COVID.
Overrated DFD: Adam Larsson, Andrew Peeke, Mario Ferraro, Ben Chiarot, etc.
Physical DFD with actual good defensive impacts: Oleksiak, Soucy, Carlo, Zadorov, etc.
EDIT: Also forgot to include Scott Laughton. He was alright last year, this year he is horrific. I get it could be Torts' system but are we seriously considering giving up high draft picks for a bottom-sixer? I don't get the obsession with Laughton either. If you want depth players who provide grit why don't you go for guys who are good at contributing as well? O'Brien, Greenway, Okposo, Hathaway, Aube-Kubel, Dowd? Big emphasis on Hathaway and Dowd, who both have elite defensive impacts.