Nashville Predators: Who Will Round Out The Defense?
The Nashville Predators enhanced their defense with the addition of Alexei Emelin, but who’s his partner? Irwin, Weber, or Bitetto?
The Nashville Predators boast a top 3 defense in the NHL. The top five can go toe to toe with any team in the NHL and probably come out on top. The issue is the sixth defenseman.
Anthony Bitetto, Matt Irwin, and Yannick Weber are the likely players to play in rotation for that 6th spot on defense. All are older than 25, so no one is growing into the NHL anymore. What you see is what the Nashville Predators are going to get. So let’s see who’s the best.
Points do matter
In the 2016-17 season, Matt Irwin led Bitetto and Weber with 14 points. Granted, Irwin played in 74 games, while Weber played in 73, and Bitetto played in 29. Bitetto scored 0 goals and 7 points and Weber put up 8 points. Irwin makes the best case to round out the 3rd pairing, at least in regards to points.
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Points don’t always tell us the whole story when it comes to defensemen. Fenwick allows us to see who impacts the Predators in a better way when they’re on the ice.
Irwin once again comes in hot with an extremely average Fenwick score of 50.3%. Those stats may not be anything to boast about, but it’s wonderful compared to Bitetto and Weber, who posted negative numbers. Bitetto posted a 44% while Tank Commander Weber posted a 47%. In this case, the numbers don’t lie. Irwin is a much better skater than Bitetto and Weber and makes better decisions in the offensive and defensive zones.
Filling in the rest
Once again, Matt Irwin has a bigger sample size for this season, yet his stats are still superior. All 3 of these players actually received some cushioned zone starts, but Irwin received the least. Irwin played the toughest minutes for the Nashville Predators as he has started in the defensive zone 47.5% of the time. Weber and Bitetto both started in the defensive zone 42% of the time. These stats demonstrate that Irwin has earned the trust of head coach Peter Laviolette to play in tough minutes. Or at least more so than Bitetto and Weber.
All in all, Irwin deserves the sixth spot according to every metric. Although I would like to see Alexandre Carrier get some time in the NHL.
Bitetto and Weber shouldn’t see too much time on the blue line unless there are injuries. The stats, both simple and advanced, prove that Irwin is the superior defenseman. If management took a look at the future, they would give nod to 20-year-old Alexandre Carrier. He’s clearly not ready for
full-time NHL duty, but 10-20 games could be useful for his development. Carrier posted 39 points in 72 games in the AHL in his first season. Great stats for any player in the AHL, let alone a rookie. It’s surprising as he never cracked a point per game in the offense heavy QMJHL. Carrier is undersized and a little underweight which will hamper his ability in his own zone, but that’s not terrible. In order for him to play well, he’ll need protected minutes and zone starts.
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Irwin deserves the minutes and while Dante Fabbro and Carrier are part of the future, Irwin is better now.