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Budding Blueliners

by Forechecker on 10/23/08 at 09:45 AM ET
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Isn’t it nice to get what you pay for?  David Poile and Barry Trotz must certainly think so.

Shea Weber and Ryan Suter inked healthy contract extensions over the summer, with their combined salaries jumping from just over $1.4 million to $8 million this year.  So far, the investment appears to be paying off, as Weber leads the Predators in scoring with 3 goals and 4 assists through 6 games, with Suter not far behind with 1 goal and 3 helpers.

As both Suter and Weber begin their 4th NHL season, they’re leading the maturation of a defense corps that is becoming not just one of the top young groups in the league, but one of the best stable of defensemen, period.  Let’s take a look at offensive production by defensemen, sorted by team for 2007-8:

Last season, the Nashville blue liners tied for 6th in league scoring, despite playing within an average overall team offense.  Many of the teams ahead of them, like Montreal, Detroit and Ottawa, were the highest scoring teams in the league, so their defenses obviously benefited from feeding the puck ahead to stellar offensive forwards.  Looking ahead to this year, many of those teams are likely to take a step backward in this category; Montreal has lost Mark Streit, Toronto traded away Brian McCabe, Ottawa’s defense corps has been decimated, Anaheim had to purge Mathieu Schneider’s salary, and Pittsburgh has been stricken with injuries to Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar.

While the Predators traded away Marek Zidlicky over the summer, that should be mostly made up for in the form of a healthy Shea Weber; last season was basically a lost cause, and everything we’ve seen so far indicates that he wants to establish himself as a top NHL defenseman right now.  He’ll get a chance to do just that tonight as Calgary comes to town, with not only an elite forward to contend with in Jarome Iginla, but the reigning “Great Young Defenseman” in Dion Phaneuf.  As Mark McGee of the Nashville City Paper points out, these two teams boast four defensemen taken in the first two rounds of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.  Phaneuf has been the biggest success so far out of that bunch, but Weber and Suter are primed to make their case this year.

Filed in: Nashville Predators, NHL Statistical Analysis | On the Forecheck | Permalink
 Tags: Ryan+Suter, Shea+Weber,

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