Breakfast Salvos: Marchment Sticking Up for Duchene, Heiskanen's Promise, and Stray Observations

So many topics. Even more opinions.

If you don’t follow hockey outside of the Stars then you missed a huge talking point that happens to be relevant to Dallas. Last Thursday Boston’s Brad Marchand took Toronto’s Timothy Liljegren hard into the boards.

I saw some smart people say there wasn’t anything dirty about it, and while I think there’s room for interpretation, I’d also argue that this is what dirty players excel at: knowing exactly how to cross the line and thus how to convince others you didn’t cross it.

Marchand is one of the game’s premiere talents, not only as a skater, and as a puck handler, but as a player who knows how to play along the wall. You mean to tell me he doesn’t know how to manipulate positioning like this?

Beyond that, Marchand doesn’t just have history. He is history. Eight career suspensions is the most in NHL history, and many of them have involved plays against his opponent’s legs. However, that wasn’t the talking point even if it should have been. The Big Deal was Toronto’s response (hint: they did nothing). Steve Dangle was as animated as you’d imagine in his postgame reaction. And the reaction on his SDPN show was as livid as you’d imagine.

So naturally, something similar happened to the Stars to illustrate the other end of the spectrum.

Duchene gets popped on a dirty (but legal) hit, and Mason Marchment immediately starts throwing chingasos at him.

Unfortunately, a lot of this discussion gets mired by reptilian brains. Cole got violent with Duchene, so Marchment got violent with Cole. Yay! I’m not super comfortable with this discussion because a lot of this feeds into what I don’t like. I love fighting; I don’t love fighting in hockey. I love the physicality of hockey; I don’t love how it fuels the playoff style that perpetually disregards any rules of engagement. Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes was a fight. Garnet Hathaway vs. Dylan Cozens was not. Jamie Benn taking out Jeff Petry was a physical play. Raffi Torres taking out Marian Hossa was not.

I don’t love what Marchment did because he got his pound of flesh. That’s fine, and in the moment, yea, I kind of did. Rather, I love what it represents: the Stars play for each other. That’s what Kyle Dubas, and Brendan Shanahan didn’t understand about their Leafs: toughness is not Ryan Reaves or Kyle Clifford’s knuckles. It’s the solidarity your best players have for each other.

Strategy’s not enough. Culture is essential.

Miro Heiskanen’s Offense and The Four Horsemen

My article on Friday was about Heiskanen and where he fits into the conversation of best defensemen in hockey.

However, pound for pound, would I consider him the best defender in hockey? I think there are four truly elite, three-zone defenders right now: Heiskanen, Cale Makar, Adam Fox, and Charlie McAvoy.

Heiskanen doesn’t grade out as an offensive maestro and I would argue that it rightfully hurts him.

While the Norris is a sham, production is not. That’s not to say production can’t be a sham either (see Barrie, Tyson). But being able to effectively force opponents into defending is every bit as effective as being able to effectively defend opponents when they’re forcing you to defend.

That’s why Makar, perhaps because of his offensive wizardy, grades out so well defensively.

This is especially true of Fox, whose numbers are even more obscene.

Not enough people talk about McAvoy.

Granted, this conversation is more intricate than listing four charts. But in terms of the best young defensemen, Heiskanen has one of the weaker cases. That doesn’t mean a Norris win would be undeserved; just that I think he’s in an elite class of young defenders whose three-zone effectiveness is probably better, pound for pound. (Stick tap to Rasmus Dahlin, who has evolved into a true two-way player.)

Again, I hate this discussion though. Reminds me of all those bullshit Ali vs. Tyson: In Their Primes Who Wins? debates. The best players wins championships, not trophies.

Stray Observations From Saturday’s Game

The Vancouver game was what you’d expect out of a Vancouver game: a cursed spectacle. Dallas rarely beats them.

However, the performance wasn’t there.

• Honestly there wasn’t much to see in terms of result: Dallas has played a lot of hockey in a very short span. They’re owed a performance like this.

• The caveat to that is we’ve seen this kind of performance way too often. Once again Dallas started out slow, only this time they didn’t recover or bounce back. Again, there’s a legit excuse, and they’re still 1st in the Central. 10 games may not be much, but it’s plenty to start reversing the trend of taking the first hit.

• Marchment-Seguin-Duchene have chemistry, at least statistically. I’m a little skeptical that this is what they look like long term. Mainly because I feel like Duchene has been driving the whole thing, with Marchment doing a lot of finishing touches. I know Seguin is there, shoveling the dirt for everyone, but I just want to see a little bit more. Nonetheless, it’s a good sign.

• Man the Stars are huge favorites over the Bruins tonight. For those that can’t figure out why, the Bruins will be missing their top sometimes top pair in McAvoy with Grzelcyk.

  

• Still, interesting to note where Dallas’ defensemen rank. All last year they fluctuated between 14-17th. This year they’re 7th. The Thomas Harley effect, anyone?