Going into the season with eight defensemen, it was going to be an elimination game. The assumption was that David Quinn would give them all playing time and end up with the six regulars, one depth player and the eighth either going to Hartford or the waiver wire.
There were a lot of question marks. How would Brendan Smith respond to his stint in the minors? Would Marc Staal continue to regress? Could Brady Skeji rebound from a mediocre sophomore season? Who was Fredrik Claesson? Was Kevin Shattenkirk fully recovered from major knee surgery? Could Neal Pionk continue scoring while improving his possession numbers?