We here at Habsradio.com, (well, I. Eric is still asleep in Vegas), have often derided the Habs defense as old and slow. I’ve pointed the finger sometimes at Roman Hamrlik, sometimes at Hal Gill, sometimes at Paul Mara, but most often, at Jaroslav Spacek. But Eric Engels has a great post today in which he makes the case for the humpty-dumpty lookalike. So in the interests of self-criticism, let’s discuss Engels’ argument. Here are the juicy bits:

…for 35 games, with Andrei Markov on the sidelines, Spacek was Montreal’s second most-used defenseman, just seconds behind Roman Hamrlik.

Spacek has played against his opponents’ best players, night-in, night-out, and though he hasn’t provided the kind of offense fans expected from him, you have to be impressed with his +10 rating.

He’s also been used on his wrong side throughout the year, and given Hamrlik’s ability to join the rush, he’s been relegated to covering up as opposed to joining the rush himself. His versatility at both ends, as well as his ability to contribute on the powerplay and penalty kill has made him a very valuable asset to the Canadiens. Not to mention the fact that he has the heart of a lion.

Engels is right. All things being equal, Spacek is getting an unfair bad rap. But the fact remains, Spacek is a little old and slow for the minutes he’s getting. Is that his fault exactly? No. But between him, Hamrlik and Gill, speedy forwards could have a field day. Though they have all done good work this season, my real gripe with the new free agent defensemen is that they were signed at a time when other options (cheaper or younger) were available – and none of them are the physical, mobile, shut down defenseman the Habs so badly need.

I guess I have been toughest on Spacek because of his contract. He commands 3.8 million for the next 3 seasons. Francois Beauchemin, for example, is 5 years younger, a lot tougher, and supplies just as much offense, if not more. And chances are he would have provided the Habs with a home-town discount. Because as hard as Spacek works, and he does work hard, and as many minutes as he plays, not a single opposing forward comes into the Bell Center saying “Damn, I’m really not looking forward to playing Spacek again tonight”. Can you imagine Beauchemin banging bodies on a pairing with Hamrlik? Dude is the very definition of sandpaper. Spacek? Not so much. And the fact that Bob Gainey / Pierre Gauthier signed Spacek to such a big money, three-year deal when no other offer for him was even close – that just hamstrings their salary cap flexibility even more.

So I can’t disagree with anything Engels said on his blog. So here is my mea culpa: I recognize that Spacek is a good defenceman. And he does not deserve to pay the consequences of Habs mismanagement. Nor can he be expected to be the type of player he is not.

But I still believe better options were / are available, and come season’s end, Pierre Gauthier will have to look at trading one or all of Hamrlik  / Spacek / Gill because of their age and salary.

Fair enough?

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