Quote:
Originally Posted by !Nhan
Manny wins faceoffs. Hansen/Torres/Higgins/Lappy don't (well not as much as him). What does that do? It gives you possession to send the play the other way or keep the play going in the offensive zone.
We have such a great PK cuz of the addition to Manny. I agree he's not the sole reason, but he's a big reason why. He helps take heat off of Kesler, in which we don't need to lean on him as much and it's more of a group effort.
Manny's skill on the faceoff has helped Kesler be the player he is this season. It's allowed Manny to take over that shut down role more and allowed Kesler to show off his offensive prowess.
It sucks especially when you have Raymond filling in that void to be the 3rd line center. How many faceoffs you think he's gonna win for us? What about now having Hank taking faceoffs on the PK?
I hope that Manny comes back asap because to me he's a BIG part of the puzzle we were missing the last two seasons.
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A lot of you will say the biggest addition to our PK is Manny, well I disagree. Hamhuis is the biggest addition. He's that shutdown d-man we were missing last year (Mitchell injured).
Winning FO's is a great advantage but it's not like we're going to lose every draw on the PK without Manny. Kesler is no slouch at taking them. I have no idea why you think Raymond will be taking draws.
A lot of you will say Manny's our best bottom 9 forward, I'll have to disagree again and say Hansen is our best bottom 9. His tenacious forecheck and defensive awareness makes our 3rd line so difficult to play against. No knock on Manny but Hansen is what carries that line.
Kes was our 2nd line centre last year, still is. On pace for roughly the same amount of points. You're giving Manny too much credit.
Our biggest missing puzzle the last two seasons was depth on the backend.
Our bottom 9 is still the strongest we've had in many years even without Manny.