That's been my main point. He'll grow, literally, into the role of a 1D. This year he should be at 20 21, maybe 22 minutes a night with bumps up in close games, but he was just not ready physically and mentally for those minutes last year. You could see near the end of games, and the end of the seasons he would cheat, either stay too far inside and let the forward get around him on the outside, or would cheat to the outside and get beat inside. His positioning, especially late in the year was very, very bad, but he was still scoring at a good clip.
Less minutes should enable him to be in good position and hopefully save a lot of goals that way. He should call up Chelios and ask him how he was able to last so long in such a demanding position.
- Wetbandit1
And as all the young players we have grow & get better, so will the team around Risto... naturally, that will help his play too