5th and 6th Defensemen

Adam McQuaid (3-12-15 +30   $0.625m): As you'll quickly find out, I'm moderately obsessed with The Dude.  It started out just as a sarcastic obsession.  My brother happened to meet his mother the New Years Eve before the Winter Classic and got me his autographed Providence Bruins card (I guess she carries them with her?).  So I jokingly would boast that I had his pre-rookie card and he was the next Bobby Orr.  That sarcastic obsession slowly became a reality.  I call him The Dude because I see him as a combination of the the guy in the Planet Fitness commercial and most importantly the Dude himself from the Big Lebowski.  Once he shaved his head to a mullet, it was over.  The Dude became official.  Drinking a white Russian with the Dude is now on the bucket list...  Alright enough with my man crush and back to some hockey talk.  Even though he played a few games two seasons ago and was thrown into the playoffs when Seidenberg took the freak skate to the wrist, this was actually his rookie season.  He played sound defense, nothing fancy, and did a fairly good job on the point in the offensive zone.  I personally don't look for defenseman to score at all.  Like the 4th line, any goals from a defenseman is added bonus (except Chara on the powerplay... I expect those).  I'd rather see them rack up assists.  McQuaid's shot was always hard and low from the point, finding their way to the goal and creating rebounds.  His solid play and physical presence allowed us to trade Mark Stuart to the Thrashers for Peverley (we threw in that Pillsbury doughboy, Wheeler, too).  Peverley didn't exactly blow me away, but that was a solid depth pick up.  I expect McQuaid to leap frog Boychuk in the depth chart and I'd like to see him push for top four d-pairing playing time.

Ask McQuaid to fight... the Dude abides.

Steve Kampfer (5-5-10 +9 $0.852M):  I'm sliding Kampfer into the final defenseman spot for now because I'm assuming he has the edge at the start of camp.  Unlike McQuaid (THE DUDE!), Kampfer played more like a rookie.  He showed signs of promise, but then would have a series of brain farts and he'd look lost.  He's the smaller, speedy type defenseman, like a Matt Hunwick 2.0.  Those aren't my favorite type of defenseman for this system.  The Handsome Ralph (Claude Julien) system is playing tight sound defense, pushing shots to the outside, clearing away any rebounds and punishing any of the players attempting to get the garbage goal.  If that's the style we're playing, I'd prefer going with some big boys in there.  "But Dome, not everyone can be as bad ass as Seidenberg and Chara".  Agreed.  But if you aren't sound defensively, then I don't care what you bring to the table offensively.  If he can show better decision making in his defensive end and the ability to quickly transition to offense and push the temp, he could be a great weapon.  I just don't know if he'll get there quite yet.

I will give Kampfer this, his snipe against Philly was nasty! (go to 5:35 of the highlight).

- Dome