CBC-Sports

Olympics reinforce value of talented defenceman

March 5, 2010 12:24 PM | Posted by   Kevin Weekes  

First off, I want to commend all the residents of beautiful B.C for doing such an outstanding job hosting the Olympics. With the world (as many as three billion pairs of eyeballs) watching, you guys nailed it!

After watching the Olympic hockey it reinforced the value of smart and talented defencemen that can skate, pass and make plays.

Watching Team USA and Canada illustrated the value of this even more. Jack and Erik Johnson, Brian Rafalski, Ryan Whitney and Ryan Suter along with Drew Doughty, Dan Boyle, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Shea Weber and Scott Neidermayer all had a tremendous impact on their respective teams and their success.

Being composed, protecting, skating or passing the puck to make plays sounds quite elementary to most hockey afficianados out there, but quite frankly, most teams don't value these types of players because they consider them to be 'prima donnas.’

I know this sounds crazy to hear but many management and coaching types still feel this way. These types of defenceman change the game by creating opportunities from transition and making plays in the offensive zone. They are essentially 200-foot threats.

You look at Chicago, San Jose, The 'new' Phoenix Coyotes, Washington and the gold standard Detroit Red Wings and you can tell it's part of their organizational approach and a big part of their success.

Steve Yzerman and Kenny Holland have known the value of this for years, and that part of the Red Wing DNA was clearly a key component of Team Canada's success. Some of the humble and smarter GMs and coaches are starting to take follow suit and those that don't will continue to flounder.

Anybody notice the Coyotes have the most goals from a defence corps in the NHL? And they still went out and added to that Wednesday at the trade deadline.

Speaking of the trade deadline, I said Wednesday morning that defence would have been a flavor of the day for many GMs and as it turns out, 21 defenceman were moved.

I guess some the GMs weren't only watching the Olympics, but more importantly, they were scouting and took heed to the key element of the two best teams in the world.

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