- Feb 27, 2002
- 14,724
- 100
Since so many threads keep focusing on him, I thought I'd start a new one just for this topic.
I had a suspicion Tippett had been using Connor Murphy in sort of a shutdown role (and he sort of is, in terms of quality of competition), but something else jumped out at me when I looked at the numbers.
Basically, Tippett is sheltering Rundblad (when he plays) roughly the same way he's sheltering Stone. Stone's offensive zone start percentage is 56.2, while Rundblad's is 56.9. There's a little more daylight between their quality of competition (0.143 for Stone vs. 0.479 for Rundblad), but Morris and Klesla are facing even easier competition (while Yandle and Schlemko are sandwiched between them, and OEL, Michalek and Murphy are all way higher).
The major difference, though, is in Corsi. Only four players on the team have negative Corsi: Stone, and then the three guys who face much tougher opponents. Rundblad, meanwhile, has far and away the best Corsi on the team at 11.94 (#2 is Yandle at 5.76). So while Rundblad is getting very easy 5-on-5 minutes, he's performing about as well as he could. Eleven games is an admittedly tiny sample size, but he's doing great in that span.
I understand these guys bring different dimensions to the team. Stone is definitely bigger, and he might have the heaviest slapshot on the team (while Rundblad is more of passer and seems to opt for wrist/snap shots when putting the puck on net). But that's about it, in my eyes. Stone is a little bigger, but neither is really a bruiser, and both are below average skaters for defensemen. I think Stone's positioning is, on balance, a little better, but as the numbers above bear out, that doesn't translate to more effective play, and he's no less prone to major blunders.
Stone gets less PP time (1:21 to 2:00) and more SH time (1:32 to 0:03), but he's no more effective on the powerplay (3 points in 47:15 versus 1 point in 22:00) and he's dog **** on the penalty kill (3.5 PP goals allowed per 20 minutes when he's on the ice, which is by far the highest of anyone who has played 15+ minutes of PK this year).
Y'all keep complaining about Tippett's "man crush" on Schlemko, and I'm in agreement that Schlemko is overplayed. But if you're looking for a whipping boy here, Stone is your guy.
I had a suspicion Tippett had been using Connor Murphy in sort of a shutdown role (and he sort of is, in terms of quality of competition), but something else jumped out at me when I looked at the numbers.
Basically, Tippett is sheltering Rundblad (when he plays) roughly the same way he's sheltering Stone. Stone's offensive zone start percentage is 56.2, while Rundblad's is 56.9. There's a little more daylight between their quality of competition (0.143 for Stone vs. 0.479 for Rundblad), but Morris and Klesla are facing even easier competition (while Yandle and Schlemko are sandwiched between them, and OEL, Michalek and Murphy are all way higher).
The major difference, though, is in Corsi. Only four players on the team have negative Corsi: Stone, and then the three guys who face much tougher opponents. Rundblad, meanwhile, has far and away the best Corsi on the team at 11.94 (#2 is Yandle at 5.76). So while Rundblad is getting very easy 5-on-5 minutes, he's performing about as well as he could. Eleven games is an admittedly tiny sample size, but he's doing great in that span.
I understand these guys bring different dimensions to the team. Stone is definitely bigger, and he might have the heaviest slapshot on the team (while Rundblad is more of passer and seems to opt for wrist/snap shots when putting the puck on net). But that's about it, in my eyes. Stone is a little bigger, but neither is really a bruiser, and both are below average skaters for defensemen. I think Stone's positioning is, on balance, a little better, but as the numbers above bear out, that doesn't translate to more effective play, and he's no less prone to major blunders.
Stone gets less PP time (1:21 to 2:00) and more SH time (1:32 to 0:03), but he's no more effective on the powerplay (3 points in 47:15 versus 1 point in 22:00) and he's dog **** on the penalty kill (3.5 PP goals allowed per 20 minutes when he's on the ice, which is by far the highest of anyone who has played 15+ minutes of PK this year).
Y'all keep complaining about Tippett's "man crush" on Schlemko, and I'm in agreement that Schlemko is overplayed. But if you're looking for a whipping boy here, Stone is your guy.
