Arguable. Nashville maybe, no one else comes close. All four Washington players are better than Suter, and certainly St.Louis, having traded Shattenkirk, doesn't come close.
The Ducks maybe, but Manson - as much as I like him - probably isn't cracking this top four, and he isn't the Ducks #4..
- james_tanner1

He was the fifth D man for both the Blues and the Caps yet you keep including him in said categories because of what, corsi? He is good offensively but the net effect he has on a team is lukewarm at best. Any production he manufactures on the power play ends up being negated by poor defensive play.

I pity the team that pays him and plays him as a number 1.

I'd say that Nashville has best top-4 (and top-6) in the league. But the Caps are a close second. Helps having Josi on his current deal.

He was the fifth D man for both the Blues and the Caps yet you keep including him in said categories because of what, corsi? He is good offensively but the net effect he has on a team is lukewarm at best. Any production he manufactures on the power play ends up being negated by poor defensive play.

I pity the team that pays him and plays him as a number 1.
- fattyboubatty

Don't talk sense in here.

He was the fifth D man for both the Blues and the Caps yet you keep including him in said categories because of what, corsi? He is good offensively but the net effect he has on a team is lukewarm at best. Any production he manufactures on the power play ends up being negated by poor defensive play.

I pity the team that pays him and plays him as a number 1.
- fattyboubatty

Exactly!!!! He's been a -1000, and he's played on the Blues and Caps!!!!

Hoping NYR doesn't sign him.

Tanner, we've been over this. Washington doesn't have the best D group in the League. Nashville and Anaheim certainly have them beat, and you could argue a few other teams as well.

I think Shattenkirk to the Leafs makes a ton of sense for both. He's exactly the guy Toronto needs and Toronto is exactly the kind of city he wants to play in. Plus, Toronto gives him the role he wants to play. The Leafs are going to be scary over the next couple of years, and adding a guy like Shattenkirk helps them out a ton.
- Helios

The only reason you think they don't is because most people who aren't Capitals fans or huge hockey stats nerds don't realize how good Matt Niskanen and Orlov are.

Don't talk sense in here.
- kinigitt

Yeah very sensible to call a 56 point right shooting defenseman a #5!

Shattenkirk is nothing more than a fourth forward........ he's a below average defenseman....... save your 8 million.

You continue to vastly overrate Shattenkirk.

He has good possession numbers because you don't play him against the opposition's top pairs. He once had a tremendous first pass and break out game but those are long gone now. He cannot handle a forecheck especially in the play offs.

He's a really good player and an upgrade of the years' past pp specialist, but in the end that's what he is in the bigger games.

He was the fifth D man for both the Blues and the Caps yet you keep including him in said categories because of what, corsi? He is good offensively but the net effect he has on a team is lukewarm at best. Any production he manufactures on the power play ends up being negated by poor defensive play.

I pity the team that pays him and plays him as a number 1.
- fattyboubatty

The past couple of seasons he was often on the ice when the Blues would get trapped in their zone.

Yeah very sensible to call a 56 point right shooting defenseman a #5!
- james_tanner1

Yet he was. Hm.

You continue to vastly overrate Shattenkirk.

He has good possession numbers because you don't play him against the opposition's top pairs. He once had a tremendous first pass and break out game but those are long gone now. He cannot handle a forecheck especially in the play offs.

He's a really good player and an upgrade of the years' past pp specialist, but in the end that's what he is in the bigger games.
- BluemanGuruu

Hope you're wearing a helmet b/c making this argument=banging head against wall

Just thought I'd drop this in here.

April 22:

I think it's fair to say that the Leafs are one of the most ridiculous 8th seeds in NHL history.
- Tanner

What does that make the Preds?
- Blue Clam

Compare the to rosters, the Leafs are significantly better than Nashville. No offense, but at least two players - Nylander and Matthews - are better than anyone on the Preds.

The Leafs have a much, much better forward group. IN fact, a Nash / Toronto matchup would be similar to a Caps Toronto matchup because both teams have amazing defenses and are similarly built.
- Tanner

A declining Mike Green @ 6mil is a better defenseman.

Let Shattenkirk get paid somewhere else, and let him keep coughing up the puck for pivotal goals against for that team. I'm pretty sure St-Louis doesn't miss him much.

A declining Mike Green @ 6mil is a better defenseman.

Let Shattenkirk get paid somewhere else, and let him keep coughing up the puck for pivotal goals against for that team. I'm pretty sure St-Louis doesn't miss him much.
- kinigitt

We don't miss him at all haha. Parayko is way better and has / had taken over his spot . Plus Petro's production is up now that he is getting time on the PP. Shattenkirk is terrible in the d zone except the first pass out (when he can get the puck). He plays sheltered minutes hence the decent possession numbers.

Just thought I'd drop this in here.

April 22:
- Blue Clam

I stand by that.

You must consider how few right handed D there are. Also, 56 points and a 53% CF are ELITE numbers, no matter how you want to excuse them.
- james_tanner1

The Caps were all in and I was more than okay with the trade. That being said, he's not worth what a team will be willing to pay for him. His defense was questionable at best and he looked slow at times. That's not a guy I would open up the wallet for.

Yeah very sensible to call a 56 point right shooting defenseman a #5!
- james_tanner1

I don't know why you keep bringing up the fact that he shoots right, that really has zero significance on his ability or status. If he is as good as you say he is, he would displace just about any D man on any team, right or left.

Keep this in mind. While everyone here has spent significant time watching this guy play and seeing how he responds in certain situations, you've been sitting on your couch reading novellas and glancing through stat lines.

There's no way he's resigning with us. Let's look at the facts.

1) He needs a team that not only has considerable cap room to dedicate to him, but WANTS to dedicate to a player like him.

2) He wants to win. He needs a team that legitimately has a chance in the coming years.

3) Because of the term he's going to command even with a high AAV, it is ideal for both parties if that team is at the beginning of their competitive window rather than near the end of it.

4) He has said even just last week that it is important to him to be THE guy a team relies on. He WANTS the responsibility of a 1D. So ideally he'll sign with a team that his this kind of role open for him.

5) He's a big city guy, having referred to himself as an "NYC boy at heart," to the point where it's constantly been speculated that he would sign with the Rangers. If the Rangers satisfied much of the other criteria I'd agree, but they REALLY don't, and their future doesn't exactly look bright. But we know the kind of place he wants to play in.

And there's 1 team that so obviously fits all this criteria that I'd be shocked if he finds somewhere else. Where?

Toronto

Maybe it's because the Caps just had an exciting first round series with them, but I can finally see what Leafs fans are so happy about. Matthews is just the main beast of their three-headed Cerberus. Nylander is already elite and Marner is probably not going to be a slouch either. It looks like they have a ton of cap space coming up, their biggest need by far is a top-pairing right-handed defenseman, and it might not be NYC but it's among the biggest cities in the league. The only thing that keeps it from being a PERFECT match is that he'd probably prefer to play in the US, but he's already said Toronto is among the teams he'd consider playing for.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see him re-sign here, but as mentioned in fact #4, he wasn't exactly thrilled with the more limited role he had here, and though I'm optimistic we'll be top contenders for the next few years, Ovi's not exactly getting younger and I wonder how many shots he really has left. The VERY young Leafs (nearly half of whom were rookies) on the other hand look like they'll be a scary team for at least the next decade, and what they need to really put themselves over the top is everything that Shattenkirk is (well really it's Karlsson, but good luck with that!) I would literally bet my house on him signing with Toronto.
-TheGr8Eight

Good breakdown. But why would you leave out the Islanders? In fact, a Shat signing would probably convince JT to resign. Big city living plus retooling team that could bump out Rangers and Leafs next season.