Bender said:
Is there even a downside in trying Rosen over Zaitsev at this point?
Stephen Burtch has been chatting about Zaitsev lately:
https://twitter.com/SteveBurtch/status/1084641076512575488
The defensive component of Evolving Hockey's GAR model paints a positive picture of Zaitsev's contributions. The model also shows that Zaitsev is heavily skewed defensive, Rielly is heavily skewed offensive, and Gardiner is generally balanced.
Gardiner also had some glowing observations about his partner's defensive capabilities over on
The Athletic recently. As a pair, 51-22 has improved as the season wears on (given that they were bordering on trash earlier, that's not a high hurdle). Zaitsev is the Zach Hyman of the D corps, and Babcock loves him as such.
I can see Hyman's value with the eyeballs and on the shot stats, but it's harder to come across with Zaitsev. I see he has a lot of tools that should lead to being a good defenseman (fantastic, fantastic skater), and I know he's being instructed to play a very specifically simplified game which probably colours the results.
It's pretty hard to use the eyes to gauge defense because the brain gravitates towards remembering and thus emphasizing goals (either for or against) and discarding the many other little plays off the puck that aren't directly statted. Skating routes to shade off an attack long enough for a teammate to engage a clean takeaway, for example -- teammate gets the credit on the statsheet, but it wouldn't have been possible without that 'assist'. I can't remember specific instances of Zaitsev doing this, but Gardiner certainly does, as well as Hainsey.
As for the actual question posed, Rosen is more Rielly than Zaitsev, and putting him in a position of disadvantage (weak-side) might nullify whatever offensive contribution he adds over Zaitsev.
