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Speculation: Who will be the 6th Defenseman?

Doug Pensinger

With our beloved Tyson "Clutch" Barrie out for the foreseeable future, someone needs to step into the lineup in a difficult situation and be reliable at worst and something special at best. Our remaining uninjured Ds on the roster are Ryan Wilson & Stefan Elliott with Karl Stollery & Duncan Siemens doing the Black Ace program in Cleveland.

Ryan Wilson: 6'1 207# 27 years old, 227 NHL games including 4 in the playoffs, 67 NHL points.

Pros: Experience, better at setting up goals than you think

Cons: Struggles with man-to-man D, slow, indecisive with the puck

Stefan Elliott: 6'1 190# 23 years old, 58 NHL games, 18 NHL points

Pros: Ungodly wrist shot, moves the puck well out of the zone and on offense

Cons: Not very physical, inexperienced

Karl Stollery: 5'11 185# 26 years old, 2 NHL games, 0 NHL points

Pros: Very calm on defense, hits bigger than he looks, positionally sound, good offensively

Cons: Small, inexperienced

Duncan Siemens: 6'4 210# 20 years old, 0 NHL games

Pros: Size, physical play, offensive play better than numbers indicate

Cons: VERY inexperienced, questionable mobility

* * * * *

While I do think one of the Aces will be summoned from Cleveland, I do think it's a long shot that either gets into games anytime soon. That said, there's a case to be made for any one of these guys playing in game 4, they each bring different strengths that would be nice to have, unfortunately they each bring their weaknesses along for the ride.

In a fantasy world, I would combine all these guys. Stollery's brain in Siemens' body with Elliott's skating and shooting while having Wilson's experience.

Another point to consider, who will the FNG be paired with? The 2nd/3rd pairs will shuffle up, is splitting Hejda/Johnson a possibility? Will 11/7 be a better way to go for the rest of the series?

What will Roy do?