I remember Sheldon Souray the most during his Montreal Canadiens days. He put up respectable numbers as a sniper defenseman, but his production dwindle after he decided to leave the Habs in ’07 and play for their Canadian foe the Edmonton Oilers. Then Souray decided to play in the Big D in ’11.
The year stint –last season– that he had with the Dallas Stars made no impression on me. I can’t even mentally picture him wearing green, which meant his play in Dallas had no bearing on my judgement of him. Last summer when the Anaheim Ducks acquired Souray, I was blissfully overwhelmed with flashbacks I had of him during his days playing in Canada. You can say I was feeling pretty elated that the Ducks swooped him up.
I knew he was getting up there in age –he will be 37 this summer– but I was looking to feel the void left by defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky who was traded to the New York Islanders during last offseason. Both Visnovsky and Souray are roughly the same age and have made themselves a household name due to their hard shot from the point that seems to frequent the back of the net.
With roughly 10 games left in this shortened season, I am relieved knowing that Souray has settled in just fine with the Ducks. Bruce Boudreau has Souray and Francois Beauchemin paired up and is reaping the benefits with that duo. The two appear to feed off the other as their playing styles are very alike. Both are reliable, physical, have one helluva heavy shot –a shot that we say “parts the sea”– and they activate themselves down low to spark some production.
If that doesn’t speak for itself, just look at the numbers. Souray is tied in the league with Chris Kunitz in plus/minus with +26 and Beauchemin is only a few strides behind with a +23. Another thing to add, Souray is sitting on three game winners for his team. It’s evident that good things happen for Anaheim when he takes the ice.
I’m sure Souray can make a list of good reasons why he chose to play in Anaheim, but I’m positive I can double his list with reasons that include why he has been a surprisingly lucrative addition to the team.
Win, win.