Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
I never said it wasn't. But by the same token, to claim that there's no such things as a centerpiece is just you being disingenuous. Like Lidstrom wasn't a centerpiece?
Anyway, my thinking is that if the whole D is as bad as ours, and one guy has been at the head of it so long, then it's time for a major change starting at the top.
No. Lidstrom had guys like Rafalski, Coffey, Chelios, Kronwall, Schneider, etc. to work with over the years. Detroit was a team that really understood that no one player makes a defence. He may have been their best defenceman, but he wasn't the centrepiece, because they really didn't have one. Teams that look to guys as centrepieces are teams that don't go far. Teams that build their defence knowing better do.
And, starting with Phaneuf isn't starting at the top. The top is Nonis and Carlyle. Starting anywhere else is starting in the middle.