On Sunday, I gave out grades to each Ottawa Senators forward for the 2013-2014 season. Today, we'll look at defensemen.
Cody Ceci - The twenty year-old was called up and played over 600-minutes of even-strength hockey, and largely, I thought he was just fine for a player who is still extremely raw. You can see the parts of his game that Ottawa's front office swoons over, and I found it interesting that Paul MacLean -- who thought Ceci was something of a total nightmare just a year ago -- really took a liking to him this season. There's a theme with the Ottawa defensemen about low bars being cleared easily, but I thought Ceci was just fine in his call-up. I don't think he's a top-four defenseman yet on a good team, but he's still unbelievably young and the transition to the speed and pace of the NHL game takes time. Another year or two, he could be ready for a big role.
Grade: C+
Joe Corvo - Not a whole lot to say about Ottawa's bargain bin defenseman this year. He had an early-season stretch where his offensive prowess out-weighed his defensive woes, but other than that, he spent most of the year in the press box or on loan to AHL Chicago. This experiment didn't really work.
Grade: D+
Jared Cowen - Unequivocally the biggest trainwreck this roster had to offer, Jared Cowen took a massive leap backwards from a decent 2011-2012 season. I'm not sure how much his 2012-2013 hip injury curtailed potential development, so I'm willing to give him another season to turn it around. This year, though, was a neverending comedy of basic and routine error. I don't know if I've ever seen a defenseman so out of position with such regularity before. The limited positives he did bring -- as a big and wide defenseman, he can force the opposition to dump it in when coming through the neutral zone -- were massively, massively cancelled out by his inability to do much of anything with the puck, especially with respect to zone exits. His -16 penalty differential was another major concern. The team tried to play him through his mistakes, even giving him some sheltered time with Erik Karlsson. Nothing worked. Ottawa very seriously needs to have a Plan B ready to go for next year, in the event that Jared Cowen remains as nightmarish as any "top-four" defender in the league.
Grade: F
Eric Gryba - Though he still brings virtually nothing in terms of moving the puck and generating attack, I thought he was developed into a fair third-pairing defender, able to deter neutral zone attacks and create uncomfortable moments for the opposition when they were set up in the cycle. I think there's something to be said about the organization and how they developed a guy who I thought had zero chance of being a regular NHL'er into something that, at the very least, looked replacement level. And there's something to be said about Eric Gryba here, too. He could have easily been phased out of the league. Ottawa might pass on him (his contract's now expired), but another team could pick him up as a 6/7 D, and it wouldn't be the worst move in the world.
Grade: C+
Chris Phillips - Painful to watch. No longer an NHL'er. Adds nothing on either end of the rink. Was one of five players to log at least 900:00 EV TOI and not score a single goal, joining Matt Bartkowski, Nick Schultz, Bryan Allen, and Mike Weber. Inexplicable that he was extended on a multi-year deal. The only difference between him and Jared Cowen is that one guy can at least write off the excuse that he's young and developing. Phillips is toast.
Grade: F
Erik Karlsson - Far and away the best defenseman (and probably only competent one) on the team. Did not have his best year on the defensive side -- the imaginary objections people had on his game during his Norris Trophy year were quite real, to some extent, this season. You can sense some level of discomfort with the way he positions himself on and off of the puck. I very much think it's a comfort issue as to an effort issue -- it seems like non-North American players tend to get the latter label more often than not, and it's unfortunate. Another off-season of working out should benefit his defensive game. As for his offense: he's the best offensive defenseman in the world, it's not particularly close, and Ottawa needs to find someone to help him out back there. Even with some defensive struggles, his team controlled nearly 55% of the even-strength play when he was on the ice. That's domination, and he's doing it basically as the only decent-or-better body on the back-end.
This graph is particularly telling to that respect:
Grade: A-
Patrick Wiercioch - Was atrocious, like most of the defense, through the first month or so of the season. By mid-November, looked just fine -- a lot like the Patrick Wiercioch many of us were expecting, anyway. Objections to his defensive game sort of perplexed me: if anything, I thought his defensive game was quietly better than expected, and his offensive game was more limited than I would've hoped. Needs to be a regular defenseman next year. Considering how awful the competition is, there's really no excuse to not find a guy who owned 53% of the on-ice goals and 53% of the on-ice shot possession a role as a second-pairing puck-moving type that can chew up big power-play minutes. He looked great towards the end of the season. Coaching staff needs to find a way to get him in, period.
Grade: B-
Marc Methot - Like Zack Smith, I'm sort of at a crossroads with Marc Methot. He's definitely a guy who can log eighteen, twenty minutes a night without much of a hitch. And, though he's offensively limited, there's something to be said about a guy that can chew up big EV/PK minutes without being any sort of a liability. I'd love for the team to shoot higher than Methot in terms of first-pairing defender quality, though. You wonder what the organization and coaching staff thinks about him and his future, though. The healthy scratching during the middle of the season really stands out.
Grade: B-