Quoting: aedoran
I disagree now some players don’t mind playing on their off side but they are at a definite disadvantage. Trying to hold the puck in the player on their forehand is going to win that battle more times than not. You can put your ass to the boards and stop it with your skate and leg but then it’s really hard to make a play from that position. You are basically waiting for another player to come along and dig it out. In the defensive zone along the boards you run in to the same problems. Plus clearing the puck up the boards becomes a problem because your constantly hitting the boards at an unfavorable angle and instead of going up the boards the puck pops out to the middle of the of the zone where the defenseman on the other side or a back checking forward can easily turn it in to a quality scoring opportunity. When it comes to hockey IQ it’s almost negligible. Let’s use Guhle as an example. He has a high hockey IQ and wether he’s in the 1st or 2nd pair he’s going to be seeing a lot of the other teams 1st and 2nd lines and most of them have high hockey IQs as well. You can’t tell me that a top 6 winger isn’t looking at a defenseman on his side and seeing that as a weakness he can exploit. If you were to poll GMs and coaches I think a lot of them would rather have RHDs on the right and LHDs on the left especially in their 1st and 2nd pairs. Sometimes they are forced to play defensemen on their off side like with the Wings last season after trading Hronek we didn’t have another NHL ready RHD so Chariot played on the right side. With Montreal this season Guhle on his off side is still better than any of your other RHDs except Savard so it makes sense to play him on the right. But if Montreal had a choice they would prefer him on the left.
Would Guhle play above all our current LHDs probably every one but Edvinsson and we do have some very good LHDs in our system. But upgrading a position that is set, when we have holes in other spots that desperately need attention would be poor roster management . As I've been saying about trading for Chychrun, it's a luxury we can't afford right now and it applies to Guhle as well.
Name Them and prove your point
if they're so common 10 should surface
Ones who can play both sides without declining his play whether that be 1st pair or 3rd pair ,ill set the bar low and say it doesnt matter.
Thats Guhle as he thrives on either side at high levels giving up less SHG against then Matheson did (most of which when MM partnered with Savard and Barron)
Guhle actually brought some defensively consistency to Mathesons career high 60 point season
i agree with some of your comment, really about 85% or more i'd say is true or partially anyways .
But its not as common to thrive on your off side for a lot of the reasons you listed above . Far as what a GM wants i think its better put like this.
If you're a GM and offered a Morgan Reilly who plays both sides at the highest level or Doughty who is Elite just the same but can only do it on his strong side, Which do you choose? Struble and Engstrom for us were smart enough to see lack of minutes as soon as they hit Major Junior or USHL so they began training harder packing on weight and learning to play as RD.
They're different from Xhekaj or Guhle who've adapted to it for icetime the last 2 years fighting for minutes with Harris. They're instead players who's styles are defined by odd positioning. Engstrom skates and carries the puck a lot especially around the net for tuck in goals . Most of his goals come this way or passing from behind the net then collapsing down low for rebounds. Because he's a Left on the right side with it throws the goalie off especially when a Dman is that low. Struble has a different style which is protect the puck and wrestle players grinding them down others can get a step on them. His styles defined by his ability to protect the puck and recover it as much as its defined by his ability to block shots and lay the Boom.
Not all Defense are created equal
Some like Oleksiak or Reilly filled a need so long on their offside its second nature.
But most become a weak spot for teams to attack
To have Strong Back Hand Control like Morgan Reilly for example has to the point he can make Flawless back handed passes in transition long distances and make it look easy. There's about 4 others in the NHL like him who can play top 4 on both sides without declining as a player.
Far as DET and MTL like i said before im not advocating the trade or the partner in which we trade with.
I saw Guhle being diminished and pointed out why we dont see it that way was all
I get he's not a fit in DET , doesnt mean i let anyone talk poorly about him anymore then you would let me about Raymond (not that i would)
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