Well I'll take blame for a lot of the Wiz talk in other threads. It just really bothers me that a lot of you don't look at the overall impact he has on this team. You guys have had your Rick Nash Fan syndrome flare up. How is it possible that we've been a better team the last 2 years without Nash and ALL THOSE POINTS!?! There were many fans of other teams (and even some of you) that would laugh at the thought of us being a better team NEXT YEAR let alone the day after that trade was made. How'd that turn out? The negative outweighs the positive with some of these "point producers". I can make the same case with Ovy in Washington.
Our PP was better this year than in the past, and Wiz is good on the powerplay. I'm not arguing that. I'm arguing how good it actually was and how much better you people think Wiz is on the PP than other guys we have. And does this so called power play expertise really make up for his terrible d zone play and turnovers that lead to many goals against? And if you think his 5.5 cap hit does not also negatively affect the make-up of the team then I don't know what to say, other than YES it does.
There were many times during the year that our powerplay "led" by Wiz was terrible. There were times it was good. I think we're really underestimating the offensive ability of our other defensemen if you guys really think that Wiz is the only 1 to make the difference he has with the amount of PP TOI he got. You're very wrong also if you really think this guy is a top 5-10 PPQB specialist. I don't care what the numbers say. He's nowhere near the difference maker that the top offensive(say 20-25) d men in this league are.
Wiz was on the score sheet for over 50% of our PP goals. I would say that's a very significant role on the PP. He also finished as an +/- 0 five-on-five. so I don't understand where the huge liability argument comes from--at least this year.
Yes, Wiz is prone to gaffes that cost the team. But I think his positives outweigh the negatives (by quite a lot). We finished in the upper echelon of PP effectiveness, and goal-scoring, and Wiz was second on the team in scoring.
If you think that, if Wiz went to the open market today, he wouldn't get 5.5 (or more) then you're dreaming. 50-point, RH defensemen who figure in on over 50% of the teams PP goals, do not grow on trees, and are difficult to acquire. Tie all this in with the fact that Wiz has a great attitude about being here, and for me his value is more than what we'd get for him, and certainly more than any buyout people keep suggesting.
Without Wiz, we're a 12% power play again.
