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Most valuable young defender in the Atlantic Division? |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
From Thomas Chabot and Charlie McAvoy to Mikhail Sergachev and Rasmus Dahlin, amongst others, there are plenty of young rearguards already performing at a high level.
Today we share our thoughts on which of the bunch we’d like manning the blueline moving forward.
Todd Cordell
Rasmus Dahlin.
I don’t think he’s the best of the bunch right now but I think he has the potential to be in the not too distant future. He put up 44 points as an 18-year-old rookie and followed that up with 40 in 59 games. Although his relative underlying numbers weren’t as strong as his rookie campaign, they were still very solid. The Sabres’ shot share was ~2.5% higher with Dahlin, and their share of the goals was nearly 10% higher. Very rarely do you see somebody so young making that kind of impact.
Dahlin has already shown the ability to drive play, and he just produced at a ~56 point pace on a bad team that doesn’t really score. I think the sky’s the limit and he’s the young Atlantic Division defender I’d most want leading my team long-term.
Sean Maloughney
For me it would have to be the young Chabot in Ottawa. Chabot played the most at 5 on 5 on a poor Senators team at 1491 minutes of play... that is 400 minutes more than the next highest player. Through that period, Chabot maintained a 50.49CF%. His ability to push play and maintain positive possession numbers with a brutal team in front of him speaks volume.
Chabot dropped off a bit offensively this past season but again, look at the forwards in front of him. At least for a decent amount of time last season Chabot had Mark Stone and Duchene to pass up to. Even still, Chabot produced 6 goals this season all at 5 on 5 and 22 of his 33 assists at evens as well.
Next season Chabot's 8 year 8 million dollar deal kicks in and for the 23 year old defender it still looks like a steal of a deal. I can't imagine how good Chabot would be on a good hockey team and I would certainly build around him.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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