Ryan Whitney's Mobility Problems Distilled For Your Consumption

I wrote about Ryan Whitney's issues this week:

Whitney's injuries are such that he isn't going to get up to speed. His lack of mobility isn't about being in shape, it's about injured ankles that aren't going to recover. Whitney's physical abilities are as good as they will ever be. When he was healthy, he was a very talented defenseman, and that's why, even after seeing his play since injuring his ankles, Oilers fans still wonder if they could sign Whitney on the cheap for next season.

But Tyler Dellow goes about three steps beyond in breaking down Whitney's mobility issues with a series of frame-by-frame screenshots. It's the Zapruder film of Whitney's career:

Basically, Whitney’s miles off the play and not really able to get close until Fistric finally steps in and pastes the guy, separating him from the puck. I’m not a hitting fetishist – it’s a way of retrieving the puck, not an end in and of itself – but Whitney never seems like he’s able to get into position to separate the Avalanche player from the puck as things go back and forth here.

The mobility is never coming back. Oilers fans can't be angry at Whitney - the injuries are his to cope with - but they should be angry with the management team that put him in this position.