Originally Posted by anticipation

Yeah, because Lidstrom won all his hardware by hitting guys right? Visnovsky didn't get nominated the past two years, but a seriously strong case could've been made for last year when he had absolutely insane statistical evidence that showed he faced the toughest competition on his team, had the highest relative +/- on his team, and put up better defensive numbers relative to his zone starts than Weber or Chara. It's easy to discredit him with the old eye test, but the reality of the situation is that players who can wheel and deal while maintaining positive possession help their teams win more frequently than guys who simply have active sticks and play a bruising style. I feel like Girardi was this year's Visnovsky; he and partner Ryan McDonagh faced some of the stiffest competition in the notoriously run-and-gun east for one of the best defensive teams (NYR), and yet still managed to lead the league in playoff points by a defenseman. I like him for the wide array of intangibles he brings, and I think it's safe to say that without him the Rangers would suffer greatly on both ends of the ice. Beauchemin is a defensive stalwart on a terrible team, but he doesn't have the offensive abilities that Suter does.

I think that we get caught up with player's value to the point where we think that if they are simply inserted into a line up the performance of the group will drastically increase. Suter is one of those guys with tremendous individual skills and the ability to make heady plays, but when you break down what he actually brings as opposed to what he's paid to "do" we quickly see that having a diverse top six with a good mix of offensive and defensive responsibility is more valuable than just bringing one guy who has these attributes in spades.