Thoughts On Our Defensive Pairings

Thank goodness for other teams being over the cap! Good job by Waddell to pick up Schneider. I've always said DW's strong point is trades (if you don't count that Coburn guy). It will be interesting to see how our D shakes out over the next couple of weeks.

I'm not sure what this does to Bogo. We still have the same number of D as we did yesterday morning, but we are very much upgraded swapping out Klee for Schneider. This means that we really don't need to rush Bogo if he needs a little bit more time. If he is ready, well by all means bring him on! I think ideally if Bogo and Valabik are on the team you would like them to be playing third line minutes.

Ideally as well, you wouldn't want to pair two rookies together on the same line. You would like to pair the rookie with a veteran. Also, it doesn't do a whole lot of good for a young guy to be with an NHL team and get scratched for half the games. See where I'm going with this?

I see our top four D (in talent, not necessarily who they will play with) being: Havelid, Enstrom, Schneider and Hainsey. That leaves Exelby, Bogo, and Valabik. If you rotate three guys through the final pair you will either have two rookies playing together, or one of them sitting instead of playing... SOMEWHERE.

If both Bogo and Valabik make the team do you break up the top four guys and have one of them on the third line? This would also mean that one of your rookies would be playing top four minutes. What if Bogo has some sort of a Dion Phaneuf rookie season? Unlikely, but possible. We would really be set then!

I suppose I have rambled on enough about this. Has it made any sense whatsoever? I hope so. The point I was trying to get across is that with the top four we have now, that allows us to be careful with the two young guys if they need it. One last point, I think Exelby will have a much better year playing third line minutes.

OK, too much thinking. Now my head hurts.

For The Blueland Chronicle, I'm Big Shooter.