With this morning's trade bringing Francois Beauchemin to Anaheim, the Ducks are currently carrying nine defenders with them. For a team with some outstanding blueliners like Lubomir Visnovsky, Toni Lydman, young Cam Fowler and now Francois Beauchemin, what defender is the best one for GM Bob Murray to trade away?
1. Andy Sutton
The monster known as Andy Sutton, who was signed to Anaheim during the offseason, has been a disappointment over this season after missing 21 games with a broken thumb at the beginning of the season. Since that return, Sutton has clearly clashed with the other defenders on Anaheim's roster. Sutton has been clumsy with the puck in Anaheim's zone, allowing unexpected turnovers causing several goals against. On top of that, his Pronger-like stature has started to work against him with many unacceptable minor penalties forcing the Ducks to kill penalties two minutes at a time.
2. Andreas Lilja
Lilja was a blueliner who was signed after Sutton went down back at the beginning of the season in October. Andreas has been a key penalty-killer and shot-blocker, being rank ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Liz Brownstein
Anaheim Ducks’ Overpopulous Defense: Who Are the Most Expendable Players?
February 9th, 2011 by Liz Brownstein Leave a reply »
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