Bruins have been turning their nose up at left shot D the entire off season. What makes you think they’ll change now?

Yes but it's not enough and Bruins acquired Kase, they will keep him. Offer sheet is an option and it's unlikely; Bruins won't make a big move.

Two 3rd pairing LHD in your top-4 - what could possibly go wrong?

Boston: Cup window officially closed.

If you think Grzelcyk and Dunn are third pair D, yikes

Maybe because they were interested before but at the same time convinced Dunn will stay in St. Louis and as the new season comes near he's still not under contract?

This offer doesn't get you Dunn, who should have his new deal soon enough.

Yaaaaaa i don’t think you know who these two players are.

Maybe let the reigning presidents trophy winner play a game before declaring them dead?

I don't "think" they're 3rd pairing defensemen, I know it based on their usage.

5v5 TOI
Dunn: 5th on his team (3rd pair)
Grzelcyk: 5th on his team (3rd pair)

TOI% vs Elites:
Dunn: 7th on his team (2nd most sheltered regular D in the league)
Grzelcyk: 5th on his team (11th most sheltered regular D in the league)

First, you should use even strength TOI if you’re going to go about it so ridiculously. You’re an oilers fan, no?

What would you say if I said, “well, draisaitl is obviously at best a number two center. He didn’t play the highest minutes at the position, so he is not a 1C caliber player!” You’d say I’m an idiot, and rightfully so. Grzelcyk played behind Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug (and more and more frequently he played with McAvoy on the top pair situationally).

That’s a product of depth not of talent. Wrong way to evaluate. By that logic the reigning MVP is a 2nd line center. 🤷🏻‍♂️

So Zdeno Chara, Drew Doughty, Rasmus Ristolainen, Patrik Nemeth, Nikita Zaitsev, Ryan Murray and Brayden McNabb are first pair D? They play those minutes but neither are playing like the average 1st pair NHL D.

Usage is one thing, the level of play is another one. Several coaches don't use some players properly. It's not because one player plays 12 mins/GP that he's a 3rd pair defenseman.

Quality is what matters, not only quantity.

Dunn would be a solid add. Blues have no reason to move him. And their top 9 wings are pretty set after adding Hoffman.

They walked away from one of the best shutdown defenders in the league and their top offensive defenseman, their top-2 forwards are injured and will miss some time, and now they're putting two 3rd pairing guys in the top-4. Yeah, that's basically an admission that they're no longer a top contender, they're developing youth instead.

As opposed to Moore/Zboril/Lauzon playing top 4? This is worse?

Don’t watch them much do you?

Carlo is their top shutdown guy. Chara is a pylon that should have retired 2 years ago. Chara still great on PK, does not have to move much. Or deal with a rush. Beyond that his value is not there. You have to hide him at this point. Bringing him back would mean having to put one of the young d men on waivers, they lose them for what....sentiment? Was right move to let him go.

Krug walked, he wanted out apparently, They made virtually same offer. 1 less year.

Marchy is due back opening night.

Injuries are part of hockey. Out of your control. Not an indication of how team thinks of itself.

Well... not anymore

Why would I use even strength TOI instead of 5v5? You think 4v4 and 3v3 is a better indicator of a coaches trust? In any case, both Dunn and Grzelcyk are still 5th at ES TOI/GP, so it makes no difference. Honestly the TOI% vs Elites is the key thing here anyhow.

You should tell Bruce Cassidy that he's wrong and you're right. Cassidy played Chara 46% against elites last year and Carlo 33%. He gave Carlo 58% O-zone starts and Chara 32%. I think you need to get your eyes checked.

You could not be more wrong on this. I just checked - Zdeno got the toughest minutes of any player in the league last year. He was #1 for TOI vs Elites, dead last for O-zone faceoff% and 9th for D-zone faceoffs/60.

It begs the question: do YOU watch them much?

Why is it so hard to understand that quality > quantity

Think you need to watch the games. Just because he put him out there does not mean he was effective. Someone let Gordie Howe play when he was in his 50s. Wasn’t because they did not have better options. Reverence .

Carlo got 58% OZone start because of his partner. 😉

Competition matters. It's easy to put up good numbers against the opposition's 3rd and 4th lines, and quite another thing altogether to defend their 1st and 2nd lines. "Quality" must be put into context.

This is why advanced stats exist and it's isolated

he is a great addition, but on Blues roster