The defence is the main subject as Jason Paul aka WaveIntel joins the podcast again. Jason’s graphs are something to look forward to on Twitter/X and he came out with a new batch just last week.
Having said that, the podcast starts with a segment on Jake Evans’ fantastic season, and what to expect in the coming weeks. On Sunday, Evans sounded like a player potentially leaving the Canadiens before the deadline, even if TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie stood by his report that negotiations were still happening and that there is still a possibility of extending Evans.
With Owen Beck, Oliver Kapanen and an injured Emil Heineman returning (this also includes a mea culpa from myself), is keeping Evans the best option?
As the discussion turns to the defence, the story really centres around Kaiden Guhle and David Reinbacher. Then we touch on a group of defenders with a renewed focus on defence. Arber Xhekaj, Logan Mailloux and Adam Engström have been working on that side of their game, as the emergence of Lane Hutson has made him the offensive workhorse of the defence.
There is also an explanation to the Mike Matheson-Lane Hutson pairing showing up in the chart below.
around the horn on the NHL D-pairing performance chart…#LetsGoOilers #GoKingsGo #LeafsForever #GoAvsGo #LetsGoPens
— Jason Paul 🥥 (@WaveIntel) February 7, 2025
*5v5 / min 100 mins (data NST) pic.twitter.com/KTWqB7KwGf
Finally, there is a short story about Christian Folin, the former Canadiens defender now with Frölunda in the SHL.
