Christian Erhoff may be the best signing of the 2015 NHL Free Agency.
Will he have 50 points and compete for top scoring defenseman… probably not. But that is not what makes this such a good signing. Let’s put aside our feelings on the Kings legal troubles this offseason. The Kings needed to fill a hole. Prior to last season the Kings had made 3 straight trips to the WC Finals. What were they missing last year? A 2nd pairing puck moving D-man.
Everyone knows Drew Doughty is going to play with Jake Muzzin as your 1st pairing. Alec “Jazz Hands” Martinez is a perfect 3rd pairing, puck moving, d-man and they partner him with a shutdown bruiser like Matt Greene. The 2nd pairing is Key and with the legal troubles of Slava Voynov the Kings have struggled. A-Mart was moved up to the 2nd pairing and he went from being a GREAT 3rd pairing puck-mover to a mediocre 2nd pairing dman and he was exposed in his new role. The Kings operate with a system that needs the 3 d lines to work with a set up that puts a strong puck mover with a defensive minded partner (Jury is still out on Muzzin’s D… but Doughty likes him and that was the pairing during the 2nd cup run… so…evidence says it works?)
On the power play, the lack of Slava basically meant that Drew Doughty was on for a full 2 minutes and I think it wore on him during 5 v 5. Having the Hoff allows Drew to still run the first unit but to have someone who can help eat up some of his ridiculously high minutes. Last year Drew averaged 28 minutes per game! I don’t think it is any coincidence that during the Kings 2 runs to the cup Drew has averaged his LEAST amount of minutes in the last 5 season (25:43 & 24:54).
At the time, no one knew how the Slava debacle would turn out… but signing Hoff to a 1.5 mil, one year deal, allows the kings to have serious flexibility. If Voynov came back then the kings now have 4 guys to rotate into that puck moving slot, if he doesn’t… they found a veteran, hungry, good locker room presence who can help the kings put the pieces they have back into their correct slots.
That is why this is such a great signing.
@jd_dorfman – The KosherHam
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