Which might be fair, but what else can the guy do? Can he only ever prove himself if he gets dealt?
The criticism the last couple years was that he wasn't producing and playing well. He can't change being on one of, if not the, worst rosters in the league until he isn't.
Defensive warts have and always will be there with such an offensive minded small D man, we saw them here, but the argument was he needs to produce at a certain level to counteract that, like he did in his time in Ottawa. Granted, he also had some times of pretty stellar D in Ottawa too.
Then this year he produces at what is essentially a historic season for dmen not seen in decades, above reasonable expectations, and those that are plugged in to the team claim he's played well and is clearly the teams generator at ES by a country mile.
Now it's said it's only because of the way the team plays and having no pressure, even though most would agree that the list of D men that could do the same only has one other name, Makar. I'm just trying to understand what he would need to do to change opinions... opinions that I'm willing to bet are almost entirely based on word of mouth and hearsay. Who in Ottawa is actually watching the worst team in the league on a paid center ice package until 1am? I'm betting that number is incredibly small.