How about this? All stats are according to
HockeyDB :
2012-2013: 67 games, 75 points = 1.12 ppg
2013-2014: 53 games, 63 points = 1.18 ppg
Points per game increases over the 2 years. This is good. His plus/minus has also gone from +29 to +32. This is a minor change, but at least it went up. What is down are his goals, he scored 17 less in 2013-2014 than in 2012-2013. From those who have seen him play, this might be due to two things: Increased coverage and increased defensive awareness. For those who watch the big club and obsess over the lack of scoring from the left wing, seeing him drop 42.5% of his goals from the year before is horrifying. That said, his assists are up by 12.5% in 14 less games. Baie-Comeau also won 3 more games this season than they did last year. He has improved production on a team that won 72.8% of its games this season, but his goal scoring declined considerably.
Using the statistical argument, then, one could argue that the big concern with Zykov is the decline in goal scoring, but that we should not worry about his overall offensive production. My take on this is that while I would like Zykov to score more goals, the thing that concerns me about a first line player is that he is regularly guaranteeing that his line gets a goal/game on average. If Kopitar ended the season with 0 goals and 82 assists, I'd want him to score more goals, but I would say that he has contributed offensively the way he needs to for the team to win. This is the qualitative aspect of the argument:
Does it matter who scores the goals or not as long as the goals are scored? My argument is that it does not matter who pots the goal as long as the Kings score more than their opposition. Others think differently, but as I cheer for the Kings, I only want the team as a whole to have more goals each game than the opposition. Assists lead to goals. Zykov's overall production was up slightly, therefore, I do not worry too much about his offensive game. The bigger question is, is he contributing in all facets of the game in a more elevated way than what the normal offensive statistics do not reflect? That is for scouts who watch the game to decide, which is why I put additional stock in your reports, TG, over a simple reading of the stats. I have not watched the games, therefore, I cannot answer the questions about Zykov's overall game either way, but if we want to use statistics, I'm not buying what the doubters are selling. From what I want from players, for where Zykov is projected to play, he has done his part statistically. Now, can he do the rest?
Nobody makes it to LA anymore without a complete game. Just ask Tyler Toffoli, Linden Vey, and Tanner Pearson. The thing with Zykov and every other player who gets drafted now is that they have at least 3 if not 4 or 5 years of development before they have a realistic shot of making it to the regular NHL roster. Ask yourself, where is the next opening going to be in LA in an offensive role and is there any guarantee that our young players are going to be there over the next Carter or Gaborik? This is exactly what we wanted all through the 2000s, now that we're into the second decade of the 21st century, we have to change our mindsets. LA's hockey's future is no longer next season, it's 5 seasons from now and the competition is fierce. Zykov and every other prospect will change dramatically in that time as they change from big boys to young men, so use the stats to see if he is still doing a statistical baseline of what he needs to accomplish, but otherwise, I'd leave the stats out of this one for a more realistic discussion of what it means for an 18 year old draftee to transition into a Los Angeles King.
T2M
poor guy.
