GDT 11/22/17 Canucks @ Pens 4 PM SPN

[Meds]

Yup, cos there's nothing more dangerous than a point-man threatening a killer pass!

Well, other than Sami Salo and Yanick Weber, we have not had a point man with the bomb shot the last few years. Edler's is pretty good I guess, but is inconsistent and makes a fair share of mistakes. Not sure if some of the best PP quarterbacks today have a great shot from the point (ie: Keith/Karlsson).

Edler used to be good at the point. For whatever reasons, he seems to be a step behind in everything in the last few seasons (aging?). I would guess around 75% of his shots hit shin pads these days.

Edler was good on the point in 2010 and 2011. The last 6 years since then have been a disaster. He has never been a PPQB, and he has never been a point man who can be setup for a one-timer bomb. He routinely fumbles the puck at the blueline, he rarely gets shots through, and when he does they aren't on net. Those are the consistencies.

Some would point to Edler's stat line and his points to argue that he is/was better than I give him credit for. Don't overlook the fact that he has, by and large, been married to the Sedin line in terms of PP unit deployment and TOI in general. He has tallied plenty of points where he gets the second assist. Sure this can be attributed to plenty of players, but my point is that Edler hasn't been much good on the PP for the last half decade.

[Todd Bersnoozi]

Edler was good on the point in 2010 and 2011. The last 6 years since then have been a disaster. He has never been a PPQB, and he has never been a point man who can be setup for a one-timer bomb. He routinely fumbles the puck at the blueline, he rarely gets shots through, and when he does they aren't on net. Those are the consistencies

Yeah, that's a fair assessment I think. Out of all our D-men, he probably has the best shot from the point though. Maybe if they use him mainly as 2nd unit or simplify his job in just moving the puck to our more skilled guys, firing his shot when he has a clear lane and him staying behind to be the first defender back if the puck goes to the other way, he can be effective.

* Alex Biega has improved in every way imaginable this season. He is still a marginal NHL player and is unlikely to be anything more than a 3d pairing guy. Increased time on the ice exposes his faults. But overall, I am impressed that a player at his stage of the career can make the marginal improvements it takes to not the a defenseman version of Jayson Megna and actually a player that NHL teams would want as a 7 and not panic about when a top player goes down for a bit.

They call him Bulldawg for a reason. *hehe* From what I hear, he's the ultimate team guy with a great attitude, extremely coachable and never gives up. I think different guys mature at different times and the skill lvl between the 13th forwards/7th D-men on NHL clubs from most AHLers is very close. There's not much that separates them. Most of the time, it just boils down to the type of player that the NHL club needs/wants and for a bubble player to be a given a chance to show what he can do. If Bulldawg keeps playing like this, we probably won't be able to resign him for next year.