Do we value defensive players

[JCarson 619]

There has been a small rumbling in the league about unfair treatment of defensively minded players, especially among defensemen, when it comes to evaluating them for awards and Hall of Fame induction. 

 

If you look at an individual like Marcel Janser who very much plays in the shadow of his offensively gifted brother Daniel and anyone in the league would tell you that Daniel is the better player. But is he? 

While they played together it was hard to deny that Daniel provided a strong offensive dominance to the Calgary lineup, put him together with players like Wolanin and Goncalves and the number spoke for themselves. Nobody denies that Daniel is a great hockey player

 

But somewhere in the background sat Marcel a defensive defenseman who was nothing but strong and reliable. While the offensive core was wheeling around the ice taking chances and making plays that most teams would not have considered, they were only able to do that because when things went wrong, they had the defensive specialist of Marcel Janser to dig them out of the mess. 

Now when Marcel left Calgary, that created a situation where we could see the value that Marcel provided and everyone underestimated. Marcel went to London, playoff cursed London and what happened? Season 88 became a year where the Continental Cup was one purely based on defense, London played a strong defensive game, backstopped by a spectacular goalie and a strong outing by Marcel Janser. They did everything to steal the Cup by stopping any opportunity the other teams had to score. 

 

Now we sit in Season 89 playoffs and in his retirement year Daniel Janser is now sitting back, career completed, watching as his brother continues to play. Prague continues their push after eliminating Moscow. We will see if Marcel can backstop a third team to Continental Cup glory. Then maybe, the league will wake up to the value of the defensive powerhouse and potentially accept that the better Janser brother has always been Marcel.