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OTTAWA — Don’t tell Paul Coffey that Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson needs to be better defensively.

A three-time winner of the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenceman, the second-highest scoring career blue-liner with 1,561 points in his career and a four-time Stanley Cup champion Coffey doesn’t want to hear it.

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Speaking with two Ottawa reporters after posing for pictures with the coveted mug at Rideau Hall on Thursday afternoon, Coffey said that, when he was a player, he heard all the same things being mentioned about Karlsson’s defensive game and believes his best bet is just to ignore the noise.

“How you deal with it is you do what you do best,” said Coffey. “Trust me, I went through all that stuff early in my career in Edmonton. I stayed back and I was that defensive guy. Then, I had guys like you guys all over me because I wasn’t scoring points. You’re in a Catch-22 situation.

“I’ll tell you one thing, a guy like Karlsson, not everybody can do it or they’d be doing it. No disrespect to anybody in the game or the way they play but the other side (playing well defensively) isn’t hard. It’s just commitment. Do you want Karlsson to stay back and be defensive or do you want him to play? You want him to play. That’s not easy. That’s a talent.”