1st pair, 2nd pair... whatever. Who do you want playing against Boston’s big line or OV or Crosby? Right now our answer is Prov and you fill in the blank.. it’s not good enough. Also you kinda have to wonder if what you see is what you get with Sanheim. The Sanheim Myers combo in the bubble playoffs did not really excite me all that much. Then Niskanen plays too many minutes and gets criticized. This team needs mult dmen in their top 4.
- Joe Nardone

I think you have to wonder that about Myers also, i.e. are Sanheim or Myers going to be any more than they are right now? Myers is at least a RHD signed to a reasonable contract, but what about Sanheim? He is a RFA this year, does he deserve a big pay raise?

I think you have to wonder that about Myers also, i.e. are Sanheim or Myers going to be any more than they are right now? Myers is at least a RHD signed to a reasonable contract, but what about Sanheim? He is a RFA this year, does he deserve a big pay raise?
- jd250

Yep and I think the lesson is you need at least one guy over 25 or so that can actually play defense. You cant run out an all rookie offensive line and you cant run out 6 young guys on d. Also they have Zamula and York coming.. we have not made a huge trade in forever.

Nashville pairs Roman Josie (LHD) and Ryan Ellis (RHD) as their top pair, and they play roughly 25 minutes a game. Their second pair is Ekholm (LHD) and Dante Fabbro (RHD) and they play about 22 minutes a game. Nashville obviously splits it up this way to get LHD-RHD on each pair, otherwise Ekholm would easily be in the top pair. Ekholm is better than Ryan Ellis and is absolutely a top pairing defenseman! On the Flyers it won't matter which pair is 1 and which pair is 2, because they would play about the same minutes. This would also allow Provorov to play less minutes, which I think is the main reason his game has dropped off this year.
- jd250

I said what I did because the biggest drawback folks mention is fit with Ekholm on the Flyers. You say LHD and RHD don’t matter, yet you list it as the reason Ekholm isn’t on the top pairing for Nashville. If the idea of the trade is finding a perfect fit with Provy, then fit is the issue and your description doesn’t help your cause.

That said maybe the Ekholm-Sanheim pairing would work. I think Provorov carries too big of the load on defense, and Myers is only in his second season and a short one at that. He needs time to grow his game.