Ok we all know at this time and place our defence is medicore at best to the rest of the league and some would say horrific to the defence of Phillies, Calgary, Detriot.

BUT we all know that next year we will have 3 amazing defenceman on our hands.

All without a doubt have the potential to be top pairing defenceman and even number 1 defenceman.


Who do you think will be the next best defenceman for the Ottawa Senators

I honestly believe it will be Wiercioch because of his phenomanal all around ability.

He has dominated in every league he has played for and been a leader on offence and defence.

Patrick Wiercioch's hockey statistics profile at hockeydb.com

He is also a very smooth skater and plays in all situation and went from 6'2 on draft day to 6'5 currently thats HUGE. He also added 20 pounds...It shows you this kids effort to make himself better.

Many scouts keep throwing holes that seperate him from fame but he has so far fixed all his problems the only thing left is his skating.

There was an interview with the coach of the U. of Denver team last month and he said he hasnt seen anyone improve on their skating like Wiercioch.

What do you think and Why.

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not a lot of people voting :s

By the way people i will update the stats and comments of these fine young defenceman.

Jared Cowen started strong offensivly but was rather shallow on his shutdown side through the first 11 games as he had 10 points and an even rating.

Cowen seems to have found his role recently as he has slightly lost his offensive pace as he now has 12 points in 15 games but he has been PHENOMENAL defensivly has he has +6 rating in his last 4 games played.

His team has called upon many times in tight games as he stood tall and helped Spokane win tough 1 and 2 goal games recently.

Patrick Wiercioch started off slow with the U. of Denver in the NCAA and many thought his spectacular rookie year was a fluke as Wiercioch had only 3 points in the first 5 games i believe.

Now Wiercioch has stepped it up a notch and is showing his offensive flash and defensive posture as he now has 9 points in 10 games and a +/- over 6 i think.

DEFENCE LOOKS BRIGHT!

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What about Mattias Karlsson? I believe he's still our prospect

Karlsson / Cowen / Wiercioch

In that order

I'll take Karlsson. He just needs to work on his size and I think he's ready to go. Once he adds more weight he'll be a good NHL player.

But I wish I could have all 3 on my team. Oh wait..

Hah good one!

We are going to be SOLID in the future.

Once Karlsson can fix his mistakes defensively, he'll be getting time in the big club.

I'm with Josh on this

Karlsson > Cowen > Wiercioch

Just watched Team WHL vs Team Russia of the Subway Super Series. My first look at Jared Cowen, he was pretty impressive. As one half of the shutdown pair with Colton Teubert, they played most of the minutes on the PK and got a bit of time on the PP, not to mention the entire final minute up 2-1 with the Russian net empty. They will almost certainly be Canada's shutdown pair at the World Juniors, maybe even another "twin towers".

Cowen was solid on defense and on the breakout, as he always made the simple play, and usually the right one. Offensively he was rather unspectacular, as his passes usually weren't exactly crisp or tape-to-tape and I don't remember him even taking a shot. He did, however, earn an assist on a simple breakout pass to Brayden Schenn which resulted in a goal by Levko Koper.

He skated pretty well, wasn't the fastest skater but there was one play where he pinched all the way down to the corner but failed to keep the puck in only to hustle all the way back just in time to watch Teubert break up a one-on-one, at which point Cowen picked up the puck and made the breakout. Now thats what I call transition.

Anyways, I can't vote out of those guys. Entirely different styles, Karlsson is pure offense, Cowen is pure defense. Wiercioch could definately end up being the best all-around defenseman of the bunch, but he is also the biggest long-shot.

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