Yannick Hansen

Let's see what they can do.

And then I'm okay with losing...

bigger games where it's like okay we lose this one six four but the young skill is coming through you can see the talent in there on the other side okay we drafted these big defensemen that are good shutdown defensemen that have potentially to develop i don't want to see them get exposed now so i don't want to run and run and gun game now so you kind of have to you kind of have to um wait for the roster to kind of develop to see okay this is how we have to do and i know coaches

have a coaching style but but it doesn't matter which style you have if the players on your roster are not built for that then you gotta adjust and and you gotta you gotta play the hands you're you're kind of dealt so whether or not we want them to play a certain way or a specific way we always talk about the copycat league um if you have the players great go for it if not you gotta play to their strengths

Yeah, when I entered the league, there was a standard defenseman.

They were six foot three, six foot four, preferably 220.

That was just the size.

Obviously, it evolved from there on.

And now it's like the thing about size, to start with that, you can't teach it.

So if the size can play, can move, he should be a better player.

Now, what we've seen in the past here, Makar, Haskinen, Quinn, it doesn't matter how big they are.

If they're that good, they are the best.

And the shorter, smaller guys tend to be more fleet-footed.

That's where the league is going.

Now, when you're talking about a third pairing, a third pairing you normally think, okay, just don't get scored on.

So you're looking for somebody who can defend, somebody who can add an element that a Quinn, a Cale McCarr can't.

So let's say this Colorado series starts to get nasty, and you've got McCarron, you've got the Folinos,

running around where's the response coming from yeah i know there's a josh manson in the series as well but he just got back it's not going to be these two small defensemen that are probably better players than a logan stanley they're probably better skaters they're probably better passers they can probably shoot the puck better too but when push come to shove

We've seen it again that teams still can be intimidated.

That's where you look for a little bit of size to round out your skill game.