I want a Barret Jackman. I want a David Schlemko. I want a Christopher Tanev, I want a Nicklas Hjalmarsson, I want an Andy Greene, I want a Jonas Brodin, I want a Justin Braun, I want an Erik Johnson. I want a defensive defenseman that can play second pairing minutes and make sure the puck stays in the right zone, darn it.
And now, a guy like that is on waivers, and the Bruins probably won't claim him.
To see what kind of a player he is, let's first look at his HERO chart.
His CF% would peg him as a defenseman that can move the puck out of the defensive zone and through the neutral zone. Especially considering that he put up these possession stats in freaking Edmonton. His CA60/CF60 ratio indicates that he's more of a defensive defenseman. His low point totals but good CF% indicate that in the o zone, he's more likely to try to cycle the puck than he is to take a shot himself. He's also always been deployed as "the guy" in Edmonton, constantly facing off against the best players other teams have to offer.
He's a good piece, written a few weeks ago, on why Fayne's good.
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/cult-of-hockey-why-you-probably-underrate-oilers-d-mark-fayne
Now, you may be wondering to your self, "If he's good, why'd he get waived?". It would appear that the folks over at Copper and Blue are asking the same question.
Part of it is surely lol Oilers. But personally, I think he doesn't fit Todd McLellan's system. McLellan is used to having defensemen like Brent Burns and Vlasic who will shoot the puck into the slot in the offensive zone and join the rush. And, right now, the Oilers really aren't getting much offensive from their D. They have 22 points from their D at 5v5, and 38 points in all situations. To put it in perspective, the Bruins have 39 points from their defensemen JUST at 5v5, and 61 in all situations. It makes sense for the Oilers to want to give guys like Klefblom, Nurse, Schultz, and Sekera more ice time, and for Fayne to be the odd man out in that situation.
Unlike Edmonton, we have zero problems with generating offense from the blue line. Currently, our defensemen have a combined 61 points so far this season. That's with guys like Joe Morrow and Colin Miller mostly riding pine. For reference, both the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks have less than 61 goals. And don't look now, but we've currently got two defensemen in the top 20 for d man scoring. One of them, Zdeno Chara (you may have heard of him), is tied for third among defensemen with 4 ES goals. What our blue line does suck at, however, is what Fayne is good at. Unless Zdeno Chara is on the ice, Bruins defensemen can usually be found bumbling around the boards, losing puck battles and letting teams cycle the puck all day long until Kevan Miller or Adam McQuaid does something embarrassing. Fayne most definitely fills a hole on our roster, right there next to Chiller or Krug on that second pairing.
Normally, you don't put a guy like this on waivers, even if he doesn't fill a hole on your roster. That's just bad asset management. There's plenty of teams that need a player like this, and if one of them doesn't claim Fayne, then someone's made a huge mistake. I'm sure Chia pet could have pulled something from us for Fayne if he'd have been willing to take on some salary. But he didn't. He's just giving up the player we need for nothing.
The Bruins should be able to capitalize on this. This is a golden opportunity to help fix what's been the Bruins biggest point of weakness so far this season. The biggest obstacle would be his cap hit. It's 3.65 million, which is at or below market price for a player the Bruins seriously need. The Bruins currently have about half that in cap space. Temporarily sending down a few guys like Talbot would get the Bruins the space they need to bring him on, and they could permanently free up some capspace by moving some, uh, "newly expendable" players.
We have about 7 million tied in up in McQuaid and Seidenberg, who are both worse than Fayne. Just saying.
This seems like a slam dunk pick up for the Bruins right now and I sincerely hope they don't screw this up.
So, what do you think? Cop or not?
UPDATE:
Fayne (EDM) and Semin (MTL) clear waivers.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 10, 2015
Well, I'm sure we'll survive with Top 4 Defensemen Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid.