Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon discusses the contracts which he deems to be the “worst contracts” for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and he’s not a fan of the Ben Chiarot deal in Detroit:
Ben Chiarot has a particular set of skills and he’s generally pretty good at them.
He’s a defensive defenseman to whom points are an afterthought. He’s a great depth defender and specialized matchup guy.
The problem for Detroit is he’s paid like a guy who has to do more than that and now he’s got more competition for ice time. Chiarot has the highest cap hit among Red Wings defensemen at $4.75 million a year for the next three years.
With how poorly things have gone for Chiarot in Detroit, there’s a chance he could be fighting for ice time this season, never mind the two years after that.
Detroit added Shayne Gostisbehere, Justin Holl and Jeff Petry this summer in free agency and via trade. Mix in Moritz Seider, a healthy Jake Walman, Olli Määttä, and rookie Simon Edvinsson and it’s a real crowded house on the Motor City blue line.
If Detroit winds up out of the playoff picture once again, expect this will be a major point of discussion as to why.
Continued; I’d be very happy if the Red Wings were using Chiarot as a 2nd or 3rd pair, physical defender instead of a 1st pair puck-carrier.
When playing with a defensive partner who understands that Chiarot doesn’t stick to his side of the ice when he’s pursuing a check or another opportunity to hit or impede an opponent, he’s effective. He’s not effective as the partner for a puck-moving defenseman, because “losing his side” of the ice forces that puck-carrier to clean up some egregious defensive mistakes at times.
I claim no professional level of skill or anything beyond beer league hockey, but defense is all about knowing your partner and how to play with them. How to read each other and make the other guy better when he makes a mistake