<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Forklift" data-cid="224365" data-time="1395867481">
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Don't tell anybody until after the voting is over, but Hjalmarsson/Oduya has tougher QualComm numbers than Keith/Seabrook this year.</p>
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Doesn't surprise me. I think in overall being defensively responsible Hammer and Oduya have definitly proved world calls in that respect as being paired together, but Keith and Seabs definitly have more offensive potency.</p>
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...and more own-goals this year.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="The Canadian Dreamalchuk" data-cid="224369" data-time="1395868091">
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Team goes as Keith goes in my opinion. I know some think its Toews, some think it's Kane. But in my humble opinion I think it's Keith that's the most important cog in the overall machine. I know that's unfair to say in a team sport and with regards to a team that's based on chemistry and balance of talents and skills. However when Keith is playing at his best this team seems to come out on the positives, when he's off his game the team seems to struggle a bit more. I think that says a lot about the system Q implements and who leads it. That's Duncs in my opinion.</p>
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With that said not only do I think Keith is the top Norris candidate but he is also well deserving of a Hart nomination also in my opinion. He's the best blueliner in the league. Yah I said it.</p>
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I can partially agree with that on a technicality. The thing about Toews and Kane are that if either slumps or is out of comission, the team has the other to lean on, and if both slump or are out of comission, you have Sharp and Hossa right behind them--not to mention Saad a bit further back, as well as Shaw.</p>
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Keith, on the other hand, if he goes cold or is out of commission, the rabbit hole doesn't go nearly as deep. Leddy may have his transition game and Hammer might have his defensive prowess, but we don't really have a Hjallmy/Leddarmarson hybrid in the line up that occupies a single slot to play opposite of Seabs, much less other players that can soak up minutes below our top-4 as yet.</p>
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2011 exposed that with Keith having one of his worst years, and also him playing a lot because down the depth chart there was no one to soak up his extra minutes. 2012 it was too little too late for Oduya, and we saw the complete clusterfucks of Leddy with a Lefty and eith with a Lefty. </p>
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2010 and 2013 were similar in a few ways. Hammer/Campbell and Hammer/Oduya could soak up minutes so Keith and Seabs weren't run into the ground like Reality TV, and they had a stable (albeit quite different in their game types) presence on the bottom pairing in Sopel and Leddy.</p>
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In the in-between years, we just didn't have the depth to mitigate the natural fluctiations in Keith's play. Hell, this year when Keith & Seabs were off to a slow start Hammer and Oduya really stepped up until Keith & Seabs got going. </p>
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As such, yeah, the team comes and goes on Keith, but only really because we're not as deep on defense as we are at forward--but we came up big in 2010 and 2013 because we had enough depth that Keith wasn't overplayed.</p>
