My take on the Kings D:
Blake-a shell of himself but for a reduced price I would bring him into be a #4-5 dman
Visnovsky-has to do ALOT on this team and he's so small that it's gonna catch up to him soon as he takes a pounding
Preissing-been very average here so far and is VERY soft, he makes Visnovsky look like Barry Beck!
Harrold-a young pup with alot to learn
Johnson-I won't say he's overrated but he's not quite the player we imagined
Dallman-doesn't see the ice on a good team
Klemm-just a body filling in
Stuart-I know he's not on the team anymore but this year he came on from December to his trade to Detroit. Reminded me of Michel Petit as he always went for the big hit but would get caught sometimes and alot of turnovers
In the system
Hickey-similar to Visnovsky but only time will tell if he's a legit NHL guy who should have been drafted at #4 overall?
Bagnall-a big bruiser which the Kings SORELY need but does he have the footspeed for the NHL?
Petiot-another big dude whom the Kings could really use but he's been injured a fair amount so far in his tenure with Manchester
Piskula-yet another big guy but he's still learning the ropes at the AHL level
Hersley-has size but he has to show more to be a #5-6 guy in the NHL
Ryan-I think he's played in his 6th year of junior which I didn't know was possible?!! A great team guy but he's far down on the depth chart for now
They just signed Davis Drewiske who's going to be captain material some day but he's as green as a forest right now and just starting the AHL journey.
As you can see outside of Hickey there isn't alot of great prospects so if we lose out on Stamkos I won't be that devastated as we really need to improve our defensive depth. I'm assuming Blake will return so the d next year looks like:
Blake,Visnovsky
Preissing,Johnson
? ?
There are 2 spots open and I'm assuming Hickey isn't ready for the jump yet so there will be competition in camp for those spots. If we don't sign Blake than our dcorp looks really bad and as thin as the script for Drillbit Taylor!
Earl
MySpace.com - Big Earl - WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - www.myspace.com/earlskakel YouTube - EarlSkakel's Channel Earl Skakel