Lidstrom Sucks! (For all those Souray Bashers)
Posted 2:26 PM ET | Comments 0
That's right... Lidstrom sucks defensively! If anyone else is currently watching the Flames-Wings game, you just saw Primeau skate around Lidstrom with ease to set up a highlight reel play, only to be stoned by Hasek...
Now we all know that Lidstrom is one of, if not the best defenceman in the league, but the point of this is to point out that every defenceman ends up on the wrong end of a highlight reel play every so often. Had that been Souray instead of Lidstrom, we'd have pages about how much Souray sucks. Sure Souray may not be the best defensively, but his +/- this year had everything to do with the Habs not scoring 5 on 5, and now poor play defensively.
The Canadiens only scored 136 even strength goals, while giving up 176 even strength goals, for a team total of -40.
The you have a team like Atlanta, who scored the same amount of goals as the Habs, and only gave up 10 less goals than the Canadiens...
Atlanta scored 163 goals at even strength and gave up 152 at even strength, for a team total of +11.
Lets say that the Habs had the same goals for/against, but their powerplay goals for/against were what Atlanta had...
The Habs would have been at 163 even strength goals for, and 162 even strength goals against, for a team total of +1.
Makes a big difference don't you think?? It's amazing how Souray constantly gets criticized for his poor defence, but the reality is that the Canadiens as a team just could not score 5 on 5, and so they relied on their special teams. Souray was our leader on the powerplay, and was also one of out PK leaders out there. Without Souray, we do not have the #1 powerplay, and our PK is much worse off. So think about those things before bashing Souray!
Now we all know that Lidstrom is one of, if not the best defenceman in the league, but the point of this is to point out that every defenceman ends up on the wrong end of a highlight reel play every so often. Had that been Souray instead of Lidstrom, we'd have pages about how much Souray sucks. Sure Souray may not be the best defensively, but his +/- this year had everything to do with the Habs not scoring 5 on 5, and now poor play defensively.
The Canadiens only scored 136 even strength goals, while giving up 176 even strength goals, for a team total of -40.
The you have a team like Atlanta, who scored the same amount of goals as the Habs, and only gave up 10 less goals than the Canadiens...
Atlanta scored 163 goals at even strength and gave up 152 at even strength, for a team total of +11.
Lets say that the Habs had the same goals for/against, but their powerplay goals for/against were what Atlanta had...
The Habs would have been at 163 even strength goals for, and 162 even strength goals against, for a team total of +1.
Makes a big difference don't you think?? It's amazing how Souray constantly gets criticized for his poor defence, but the reality is that the Canadiens as a team just could not score 5 on 5, and so they relied on their special teams. Souray was our leader on the powerplay, and was also one of out PK leaders out there. Without Souray, we do not have the #1 powerplay, and our PK is much worse off. So think about those things before bashing Souray!