#3 – DEFENSEMAN, ESA LINDELL
On Thursday, Hitchcock mentioned Esa Lindell when he was asked about his plan with this defense, citing his size and his puck-moving abilities. The issues under Ruff for the young Finnish defender were the same as what the aforementioned Johns faced: lack of confidence and not being able to play his own game.
In his rookie season, Lindell became a relatively strong number-two defender, alongside John Klingberg he played most of his games. Lindell’s defensive game was asked to be world-class right out of the gate, given his alliance with premier offensive-blueliner and turnover prone Klingberg.
t was less than that. Lindell struggled with breaking the puck out to forwards and with using his 6’3″ frame in the corners of the D zone.
However, as it was stated in the previous slide, the work Ken Hitchcock has done before with defenders of Lindell’s variety will help the Finn.
Expect him to remain alongside Klingberg, this time using his underrated speed and improving his stick skills.