It simply amazes me that people are so willing to deal Souray at the drop of a hat, but that Visnovsky is seen as a guy to be kept at all costs to some from his play last year. Visnovsky is a very solid d-man, he's speedy, moves the puck well, has a good shot, and has the speed to make up for some defensive lapses.
On the flip side, he doesn't PK because he doesn't have the size to clear the front of the net, he misses the net seemingly every time that he has a good opportunity for a goal, and he doesn't play a physical game.
All that Sheldon Souray did was score 20+ goals on a team that was starved for offense, provide an intimidating presence on the blueline that we sorely lacked, and played in all situations. IMO the intangibles from both sides makes this debate a toss up, both have their pluses, and both have their minuses.
To say that either one is easily replaceable quite frankly is laughable. We aren't going to find a 20+ goal scoring intimidating d-man in the free agent pool, and if we don't land Bouwmeester or Niedermayer we won't get a fast skating puck moving offensive defenseman who can play both ends of the ice effectively either.
IMO it comes down to where are we deeper? The left side or the right side? If we land Bouwmeester, we simply cannot afford to pay all 3 of Bouw, Souray, and Grebs $3+ million each to roam the left side. However if we don't land Bouw, we can't afford all 3 of Vis, Gilbert, and Staios on the right side.
We have a number of puck moving types in Grebs, Gilbert, Souray, and Smid (all are at least o.k. in this area) but only 1 of these guys gives us a huge bomb from the point and strikes fear into the opposition.
IMO it's even money on who gets deal to upgrade the forward group. If Souray does want out, then he makes the choice for us. If not, I keep the Alberta product to lead the defense offensively and physically.
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