Walker's Return

I could have hoped for a little more from Matt Walker in his return to the lineup. Now that I've seen him again, he is much slower than the opposing forwards. Not in and of itself damning, but not a good thing. At one point an Oiler forward skated around Walker to the front of the net only to find that his stick has been tied up by Walker. The forward was then escorted into the corner, never to return. It represents the kind of player Walker can and needs to be. A big strong defensemen who positions himself to eliminate his weaknesses (speed) and accentuate his strengths (size, checking). The one glaring mistake he made led to a power play goal for Edmonton and cost the Blues the game. He went behind the net to chase a forward with the puck and left a forward in front of the net. At even strength, that wouldn't have been a mistake as a forward would have either covered the man in front or attacked the man behind the net. I think this was indicative of the 19 games Matt spent as a healthy scratch and not necessarily of his regular play. It seemed to me that he played scared. He was afraid of making a mistake and so he tried to get rid of the puck as soon as he got it. I'm not saying I want to see Matt Walker carry the puck up ice, but at one point he had time to hold the puck and make a decision and instead he immediately tried to clear it and it resulted in a turn over.

I am lowering my opinion of Walker but only by a little. At the begining of the season, I though he could potentially be a 3 or 4 defensemen. Now I think he can be a solid 5 or 6. He still has value and should allow the Blues to trade from defensive depth. I just hope he is not benched immediately, I would like to see him in at least four games to shake off the rust.